Archeological excavations at Shahr-e Sookhteh "Burnt City," a prehistoric settlement in the Sistan-Baluchistan province of southeastern Iran, have revealed that the women of the 4th–3rd millennium BCE community maintained a high level of socio-economic status. Of the seals discovered in graves there, 90% were in the possession of women,[2] who in turn made up over 60% of the population.[3] The distribution of the seals, which as instruments of trade and government represented economic and administrative control, reveals that these women were the more powerful group in their prehistoric society.[2]

The early Achaemenid-era Persepolisfortification and treasury tablets refers to women in three different terms: mutu, irti and duksis.[4] The first refers to ordinary (non-royal) women; the second to unmarried members of the royal family; and the last duksis to married women of royalty. Such differentiated terminology shows the significance of marital status and of a woman's relationship to the king. The tablets also reveal that women of the royal household traveled extensively and often personally administered their own estates.[4] The queen and her ladies-in-waiting are known to have played polo against the emperor and his courtiers.[5] The only limits on the extent of the authority exercised by the king's mother were set by the monarch himself.[6]

In the tablets, "non-royals and the ordinary workers are mentioned by their rank in the specific work group or workshops they were employed. The rations they received are based on skill and the level of responsibility they assumed in the workplace. The professions are divided by gender and listed according to the amount of ration. Records indicate that some professions were undertaken by both sexes while others were restricted to either male or female workers. There are male and female supervisors at the mixed workshops as evident by the higher rations they have received with little difference in the amount of rations between the two sexes. There are also occasions where women listed in the same category as men received less rations and vice versa. Female managers have different titles presumably reflecting their level of skill and rank. The highest-ranking female workers in the texts are called arashshara (great chief). They appear repeatedly in the texts, were employed at different locations and managed large groups of women, children and sometimes men working in their units. They usually receive high rations of wine and grains exceeding all the other workers in the unit including the males."[4] Pregnant women also received higher rations than others. Women with new-born children also received extra rations for a period of one month.

A few experts say that it was Cyrus the Great who twelve centuries before Islam, established the custom of covering women to protect their chastity. According to their theory, the veil passed from the Achaemenids to the Hellenistic Seleucids. They, in turn, handed it to the Byzantines, from whom the Arab conquerors inherited it as hijab, transmitting it over the vast reaches of the Muslim world.[7]

The Sassanid princess Purandokht, daughter of Khosrau II, ruled the Persian empire for almost two years before resigning. Also, during the Sassanian dynasty many of the Iranian soldiers who were captured by Romans were women who were fighting along with the men.[8]

Persian women are depicted in many masterpieces of Persian miniatures.[9] These are often used as sources to "trace through the sequence of women's fashion from earlier periods".[10]

Iranian women as dancers were highly regarded in China. During the Tang dynasty bars were often attended by Iranian or Sogdian waitresses who performed dances for clients. Poets like Li Bai flirted and wrote about them in their poems. Whirl dances were often performed by these girls. Some of these blue-eyed and blond-haired Persian and Greek girls danced in bars and clubs in China during this period.[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (Wudai) (907–960), there are examples of Chinese emperors marrying Persian women.[24]

The young Chinese Emperor Liu Chang of the Southern Han dynasty had a Persian lover in his harem.[25][26] He nicknamed her Mei Zhu, which means "Beautiful Sow" (美豬). Liu liked the Persian girl (Mei Zhu) because of her olive skin colour. He and the Persian girl also liked to forced young couples to go naked and played with them in the palace.[27][28] and he favored her by "doting" on her. Multiple women originating from the Persian Gulf lived in Guangzhou's foreign quarter, they were all called "Persian women" (波斯婦 Po-ssu-fu or Bosifu).[29] Original from the University of Michigan (63 At the foreign quarter, there lived of course many foreign women, and they were called by the Chinese Po-ssu-fu 波斯婦 (lit. Persian women), perhaps because most of them came from near the Persian Gulf. During the Five Dynasties 五代 (907–959), Liu Chang 劉鋹, king of the Nan-han 南漢, had in his harem a young Persian woman, whom he doted upon so much. From the tenth to twelfth century, Persian women were to be found in Guangzhou, and in the twelfth century large numbers of Persian women lived there, noted for wearing multiple earrings and "quarrelsome dispositions".[30][31] It was recorded that "The Po- ssu-fu at Kuang-chou make holes all round their ears. There are some who wear more than twenty ear-rings."[32] Descriptions of the sexual activities between Liu Chang and the Persian woman in the Song dynasty book the "Ch'ing-i-lu" by T'ao Ku were so graphic that the "Memoirs of the Research Department of the Toyo Bunko (the Oriental Library), Issue 2" refused to provide any quotes from it while discussing the subject.[33] Liu had free time with the Persian women by delegating the task of governing to others.[34]

The Wu Tai Shï says that Liu Ch'ang [劉鋹, Emperor of the Southern Han dynasty reigning at Canton, about AD 970]. "...was dallying with his palace girls and Persian (波斯) women in the inner apartments, and left the government of his state to the ministers."[35][36][37] The History of the Five Dynasties (Wu Tai Shih) stated that- "Liu Chang then with his court-ladies and Po-ssu woman, indulged in amorous affairs in the harem".[38] A family of Iranian descent in China was known for the three polymaths it produced, one of them was a woman. Their ancestors adopted the suname Li when they moved to China. She was a poet and her name was Li Shun-Hsien (Li Shunxian), she was known for being beautiful, and had an older brother named Li Hsün (Li Xun) who wrote a book on drugs of foreign lands, and a younger brother Li Hsien (Li Xian). They lived at the court of the royal family of Former Shu in Chengdu (modern day Sichuan). Li Shun-hsien also was a poet. Their family had come to China in 880 and were a wealthy merchant family. Li Hsien dealt with Daoist alchemy, perfumes and drugs.[39] Of the Chinese Li family in Quanzhou, Li Nu, the son of Li Lu, visited Persia in 1376, married a Persian girl, and returned to Quanzhou with her. Li Nu was the ancestor of the Ming Dynasty reformer Li Chih.[40][41]

The Pahlavi Shahs were the rulers of Iran between 1925 and 1979 and they introduced many reforms concerning women's rights. An example of an early reform introduced by Reza Shah was the 'forced unveiling of women by a special decree on January 8, 1936 which, as the name suggests, involved the police force pulling the hijab away even from religious women, by force.'[42] Women's involvement in society in general increased. Iranian women increasingly participated in the economy, the educations sector and in the workforce. Levels of literacy were also improved. Examples of women's involvement: women acquired high official positions, such as ministers, artists, judges, scientists, athletes, etc.

Under Reza Shah's successor Mohammad Reza Shah many more significant reforms were introduced. For example, in 1963, the Shah granted female suffrage and soon after women were elected to the Majlis (the parliament) and the upper house, and appointed as judges and ministers in the cabinet.'.[42] In 1967 Iranian family law was also reformed which improved the position of women in Iranian society. It was included in the civil code and was designed to protect wives, children and female divorcees. The general thrust of the reforms were to promote equality between men and women in society.

The Family Protection Laws of 1967 and 1973 required a husband to go to court to divorce rather than simply proclaim the triple talaq of "I divorce thee" three times, as stipulated by traditional sharia law. It allowed a wife to initiate divorce and required the first wife's permission for a husband to take a second wife. Child custody was left to new family protection courts rather than automatically granted to the father. The minimum age at which a female could marry was raised from 13 to 15 in 1967 and to 18 in 1975.[43]

Many Iranian women participated in the Iranian Revolution, the social changes being greeted by a majority of women (photo),[44] but opposed by a minority of secularized women.[45]

Following the 1979 Iranian Revolution Iran became an Islamic Republic. During the era of post-Revolution rule, Iranian women have had more opportunities in some areas and more restrictions in others. One of the striking features of the revolution was the large scale participation of women from traditional backgrounds in demonstrations leading up to the overthrow of the monarchy. The Iranian women who had gained confidence and higher education under Pahlavi era participated in demonstrations against Shah to topple monarchy. The culture of education for women was established by the time of revolution so that even after the revolution, large numbers of women entered the civil service and higher education,[46] and, in 1996. 14 women were elected to the Islamic Consultative Assembly.

Ayatollah Khomeini seemed to express appreciation for women's issues after he took power. In May 1979, Khomeini addressed his audience and spoke about Fatimah: "After the death of her father, Fatimah (peace be upon her), lived for seventy-five days. She was in this world, overcome with sadness and grief. Gabriel, the Trusted Spirit, came to visit and console her and tell her of future events." So, according to this tradition, in these seventy-five days that she had contact with Gabriel, he came and went many times. I do not believe that anyone else except the great prophets have had such an experience, in which for seventy-five days Gabriel, the Trusted Spirit, came and went and spoke of things that would take place in the future, that would happen to her ancestors in the future."[47] The Ayatollah spoke fondly of Fatimah as a role model for women. He said that even though she was visited by the Angel Gabriel, this is not what made her special. To him, her admirable qualities were twofold and supposedly represented by the visits from Gabriel: her special spiritual status and her excellent moral character. He continued to explain that Fatimah could have been born with this spiritual status or Fatimah could have gone through a kind of unique mystical experience. This is why the Ayatollah believed she represented the ideal female role model. Fatimah's moral excellence is observed in three interconnected activities: struggle, inspiring men, and suffering.[48] Fatimah inspired her husband as a devout Muslim. Khomeini draws parallels to this inspiration with women of Iran and how they should strive to follow their religious calling like Fatimah.

By 1999, Iran had 140 female publishers, enough to hold an exhibition of books and magazines published by women.[53] As of 2005, 65 percent of Iran's university students and 43 percent of its salaried workers were women.[54] As of early 2007, nearly 70 percent of Iran's science and engineering students are women.[55]

27.1% female ministers in government put Iran among first 23 countries in early 2000s,[56] 2.8-4.9% female parliamentarians in past 15 years put it among least 25 countries.[57] In 2009 Fatemeh Bodaghi became Vice President for Legal Affairs and a top advisor to President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad.[58]Maryam Mojtahidzadeh who runs the women's ministry was also selected as an advisor to the president.[59]

At least one observer (Robert D. Kaplan) has commented on the less traditional attitude of many women in Iran compared to other Middle Eastern countries. "In Iran, you could point a camera at a woman... and she would smile" in contrast to other more conservative places where women may mind this.[60]

There are also women in the Iranian police who deal with crimes committed by women and children.[61][62] According to opinion of Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, giving opportunity for develop woman's talents in the family and society is respecting to the woman.[63]

Women in Iran were granted the right to vote in 1963.[64] They were first admitted to Iranian universities in 1937.[65] Since then, several women have held high-ranking posts in the government or parliament. Before and after the 1979 revolution, several women were appointed ministers or ambassadors. Farrokhroo Parsa was the first woman to be appointed Minister of Education in 1968 and Mahnaz Afkhami was appointed Minister for Women's Affairs in 1976.

Female alumnae of Isfahan University of Technology. According to UNESCO data from 2012, Iran has more female students in engineering fields than any other country in the world.[74]

Formal education for women in Iran began in 1907 with the establishment of the first primary school for girls.[75] Education held an important role in Iranian society, especially as the nation began a period of modernization under the authority of Reza Shah Pahlavi in the early 20th century when the number of women's schools began to grow. By mid-century, legal reforms granting women the right to vote and raising the minimum age for marriage offered more opportunities for women to pursue education outside the home.[75] After periods of imposed restrictions, women's educational attainment continued its rise through the Islamification of education following the Iranian Revolution of 1979, peaking in the years following radical changes in the curriculum and composition of classrooms.[76] By 1989, women dominated the entrance examinations for college attendance.[77]

Women's participation in education has not slowed despite efforts to impose restrictions on the increasingly female-dominated educational sphere. The changes in women's education have split into increased usage and dominance of the opportunities available to women, and the imposition of strict requirements governing their role in education, including gender-segregated classes, Islamic dress, and the channeling of women into "feminine" majors that prevent the pursuit of certain careers.[76]

Illiteracy among women has been on a decrease since 1970 when it was 54 percent to the year 2000 when it was 17.30 percent.[78] Iranian female education went from a 46 percent literacy rate, to 83 percent.[78] Iran ranked 10th in terms of female literacy in the 1970s, and still holds this position today.[79]

According to UNESCO world survey, at primary level of enrollment Iran has the highest female to male ratio in the world among sovereign nations, with a girl to boy ratio of 1.22 : 1.00.[80] According to UNESCO data from 2012, Iran has more female students in engineering fields than any other country in the world.[74]

Since the 1970s Iran has experienced significant economic and social changes. Women's workforce participation rate went from 9.1 percent in 1996 to 14 percent in 2004 to 31.9 in 2009.[81][82] That is a 22.8 percent increase in 13 years. Women make up over half of the Iranian population, yet they make up a small percentage of the work force. Official statistics reported by the Census Bureau suggest that women's labor force participation remains quite low.[79] Women make up almost 30 percent of the Iranian labor force, and the percentage of all Iranian women who are economically active has more than doubled from 6.1 percent in 1986 to 13.7 percent in 2000.[83][84] In 2004, there were 18 million people employed in Iran, Women made up only 12.9 percent (or roughly 2,160,000) of the employed population. Men on the other hand made up 64 percent, or roughly 11,520,000.[85] The ILO data, however, suggest that female unemployment has been consistently higher than men's in recent years (Olmsted). Women are concentrated in the typically female jobs of teaching and caring. 82.7 percent of female civil servants work in teaching and education followed by administrative, financial, clerical, health and medical professions.[81] However, according to the International Labour Organization, the top three areas of female employment are agriculture, manufacturing, and education. A factor in the increase in women's employment is an increase in their literacy rates. The illiteracy among women has been on a decrease since 1970 when it was 54 percent to the year 2000 when it was 17.30 percent.[78] Iranian female education went form a 46 percent literacy rate, to 83 percent.[78] Iran ranked 10th in terms of female literacy in the 1970s, and still holds this position today.[79] Women's labor force participation rate and literacy rate has been on the rise. Yet the unemployment rate for women compared to that of men is still considerably higher. Take, for example, that in 1996, the unemployment rate for women was 13.4 percent whereas for men, the unemployment rate was 8.4 percent.[78] The unemployment rate for both men and women has increased since 1996, with the gender gap in unemployment still present. In 2008 for example, male unemployment was 9.1 percent and female was 16.7 percent[86]

Iranian surgical technologists

Studies concerning female labor force participation vary. One factor to this is the difference between measurements. The Iranian Census provides one measurement for labor force participation, and the Labor Force survey provides another.[79] The Iranian census for example, used different ages for the cut off age, 10 for the 1976 census, and used 6 for the 1986 census (Olmsted) While the International Labour Organization uses 15.[79] The World Bank and International Labour Organization have different data on recent female employment; the ILO reports an employment rate of 17.1 percent which is considerably higher than that of the World Bank.[79] Overall, there seems to be a common upward trend in employment over time.

Women in Iran had previously been restricted to the private sphere, which includes the care of the home and the children, they have been restricted from mobility, and they needed their husband's permission in order to obtain a job.[87] Employers depict women as less reliable in the workforce as opposed to men.[88] However, the Islamic Revolution had some influence in changing this perception.[89] Secular feminists and the elite were not happy with the revolution, while other feminists such as Roksana Bahramitash argue that the revolution did bring women into the public sphere.[89] The 1979 Revolution had gained widespread support from women who were eager to earn rights for themselves. A woman's responsibility and obligation was in the home, which was the underlying basis of the Islamic Republic.[81] Olmsted adds to this by stating that women have this "double burden."[79] In addition, men had the right to inhibit their wives from entering the labor force. Ali Akbar Mahdi is in agreement with Parvin Ghorayshi in that through the domestication of women and confinement to the private sphere, they were being exploited in non-wage activities.[90] In Karimi's viewpoint, after the revolution, even though it had been accepted on paper that women had an equal right to employment, she believed that this did not show in practice.[91] Comparing the pre-revolution and post-revolution era, between 1976 and 1986, the labor force participation of women had declined immensely from 12.9 percent down to 8.2 percent.[79] In addition, during the 1990s, women were being compensated for their housework due to the domestic wage law which allowed women to demand compensation from their husbands for their housework in the event of a divorce.[89]

In 1979 the United States imposed an economic boycott on Iran.[91] In particular, the boycott affected the carpet industry. As a result, the boycott influenced women's participation in the labor force.[79] Weaving is a common occupation for women, as it can be done inside the family home.[91] If the market is volatile, merchants can simply remove or add looms to the worker's home in response to demand. Therefore, women who have children to take care of can be inside the home while tending to their work.[91] Carpet weaving was very common among women from rural areas. Thus, carpet weaving was a valuable method of increasing the economic involvement of women in rural neighborhoods.[92] In 1996, over 91 percent of the female industrial employees were in the textile industry which consisted largely of carpet weaving.[91] Nonetheless, this all changed due to sanctions. Before the Islamic Revolution, Iranian firms were combined with firms in the United States where Iranians produced rugs for the United States market. However, due to the United States inflicting sanctions on Iran, Iranian imports were banned from the country. The demand for Iranian carpets was still high. In response, Americans bought carpets with Iranian designs from other countries that produced the same carpets, such as China and India.[91] Again, from 1994 to 2005 the export of carpets had declined drastically. In 1994 they were selling over $2 million worth of carpets and then in 2005 it went down to under $500 in carpet exports. In other words, the total share of carpet in non-oil exports had declined from 44.2 percent to 4.2 percent; a drastic decrease.[79] Olmsted concurs with Moghadam this would drastically affect women in the labor market, since the majority of carpet weavers consisted of less educated women.[79][87]

According to the 2012 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report, the rate of entrepreneurship in Iran for women between the ages 18 to 64 fluctuated from 4 to 6 percent between 2008 and 2012 while their overall economic participation makes up only 13 percent of the entire economy.[93][94]

The movement for women's rights in Iran is particularly complex within the scope of the political history of the country. Women have consistently pushed boundaries of societal mores and were continually gaining more political and economic rights. Women heavily participated at every level of the revolution. Within months of the formation of the Islamic republic by Ruhollah Khomeini many important rights were repealed,[95] but in mid-1980s replaced by a far more protective laws.[96]

In 2003, Shirin Ebadi, Iran's first female judge in the Pahlavi era, won the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts in promoting human rights.[97]

During the last few decades, Iranian women have had significant presence in Iran's scientific movement, art movement, literary new wave and the new wave of Iranian cinema. According to the research ministry of Iran, about 6 percent of full professors, 8 percent of associate professors, and 14 percent of assistant professors were women in the 1998–99 academic year. However, women accounted for 56 percent of all students in the natural sciences, including one in five PhD students.[98] In total 49.8 percent of the university students in Iran are women.[99]

With the 2005 election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Western media said that women's rights declined.[100][101][102] After Ahmadinejad's re-election in 2009, the first female minister was appointed.[103]

Every year, people in Iran commemorate the national Women's Day and Mother's Day on the 20 Jumada al-Thani, which marks the birthday anniversary of Fatima Zahra (often referred to as a role model), Muhammad's daughter and the wife of Imam Ali. Many Iranians take the occasion of this holiday to thank and honor their mothers, grandmothers, wives and sisters and to spend more time with them. They pay tribute to them by giving them gifts.[104]

For many centuries, since ancient pre-Islamic times, female headscarf was a normative dress code in the Greater Iran. First veils in region are historically attested in ancient Mesopotamia as a complementary garment,[105] but later it became exclusionary and privileging in Assyria, even regulated by social law. Veil was a status symbol enjoyed by upper-class and royal women, while law prohibited peasant women, slaves and prostitutes from wearing the veil, and violators were punished.[96][105] After ancient Iranians conquered AssyrianNineveh in 612 BC and ChaldeanBabylon in 539 BC, their ruling elite has adopted those Mesopotamian customs.[105] During the reign of ancient Iranian dynasties, veil was first exclusive to the wealthy, but gradually the practice spread and it became standard for modesty.[106] Later, after the Muslim Arabs conquered Sassanid Iran, early Muslims adopted veiling as a result of their exposure to the strong Iranian cultural influence.[96][106][107][108][109]

Qashqai nomads are among few ethnic groups where women generally don't wear headscarves.

This general situation did change somewhat in the Middle Ages after arrival of the Turkic nomadic tribes from Central Asia, whose women didn’t wear headscarves.[109][110] However, after the Safavid centralization in the 16th century, the headscarf became defined as the standard head dress for the women in urban areas all around the Iranian Empire.[111] Exceptions to this standard were seen only in the villages and among the nomads, so women without a headscarf could be found only among rural people and nomadic tribes[109][110][112][113][114] (like Qashqai). Veiling of faces, that is, covering the hair and the whole face was very rare among the Iranians and was mostly restricted to the Arabs (niqab, battula and boushiya) and the Afghans (burqa). Later, during the economic crisis in the late 19th century under the Qajar dynasty, the poorest urban women could not afford headscarves due to the high price of textile and its scarcity.[112] Owing to the aforementioned historical circumstances, the covering of hair has always been the norm in Iranian dress, and removing it was considered impolite, or even an insult.[115] In the early 20th century, the Iranians associated not wearing it as something rural, nomadic, poor and non-Iranian.

Attempts at changing the dress code (and perspectives toward it) occurred in mid-1930s when pro-Western autocratic ruler Reza Shah issued an arbitrary decree, banning all veils abruptly, swiftly and forcefully.[96][115][116][117][118] Many types of male traditional clothing were also banned under the pretext that "Westerners now wouldn’t laugh at us".[119][120][121] Western historians state that this would have been a progressive step if women had indeed chosen to do it themselves, but instead this ban humiliated and alienated many Iranian women,[105][109][113][116] since its effect was comparable to the hypothetical situation in which the European women had suddenly been ordered to go out topless into the street.[105][119][120][121] To enforce this decree, the police was ordered to physically remove the veil off of any woman who wore it in public. Women were beaten, their headscarves and chadors torn off, and their homes forcibly searched.[96][105][113][115][116][119][120][121][122][123] Until Reza Shah's abdication in 1941, many women simply chose not leave their houses in order to avoid such embarrassing confrontations,[96][113][119][120][121] and a few even committed suicide.[119][120][121] A far larger escalation of violence occurred in the summer of 1935 when Reza Shah ordered all men to wear European-style bowler hat, which was Western par excellence. This provoked massive non-violent demonstrations in July in the city of Mashhad, which were brutally suppressed by the army, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 100 to 5,000 people (including women and children).[113][115][117][119][120][121][123] Historians often point that Reza Shah's ban on veiling and his policies (known as kashf-e hijab campaign) are unseen even in Atatürk's Turkey,[105][113] and some scholars state that it is very difficult to imagine that even Hitler's or Stalin's regime would do something similar.[119][120][121] The arbitrary decree by Reza Shah was criticized even by British consul in Tehran.[124] Later, official measures relaxed slightly under next ruler and wearing of the headscarf or chador was no longer an offence, but for his regime it became a significant hindrance to climbing the social ladder as it was considered a badge of backwardness and an indicator of being a member of the lower class.[105] Discrimination against the women wearing the headscarf or chador was still widespread with public institutions actively discouraging their use, and some eating establishments refusing to admit women who wore them.[96][125] This period is characterized by dichotomy between small minority who considered wearing of headscarf as a sign of backwardness and vast majority who considered it as progressive.[115][116][118] Despite all legal pressures, obstacles and discriminations, the largest proportion of the Iranian women continued to wear headscarves or chadors, contrary to the widespread opposite claims.[96][113][119][120][121][124][125]

Chador and rousari, two basic types of headscarf in Iran

A few years prior to the Iranian revolution, a tendency towards questioning the relevance of Eurocentric gender roles as the model for Iranian society gained much ground among university students, and this sentiment was manifested in street demonstrations where many women from the non-veiled middle classes put on the veil[96][105][115][126][127] and symbolically rejected the gender ideology of Pahlavi regime and its aggressive deculturalization.[96][105][115][116][127] Many argued that veiling should be restored to stop further dissolution of the Iranian identity and culture,[115] as from an Iranian point of view the unveiled women are seen as exploited by Western materialism and consumerism.[109][114][115][116] Wearing of headscarf and chador was one of main symbols of the revolution,[115][116][125][127] along with the resurgence and wearing of other traditional Iranian dresses. Headscarves and chadors were worn by all women as a religious and/or nationalistic symbols,[115][116][125][127] and even many secular and Westernized women, who did not believe in wearing them before the revolution, began wearing them, in solidarity with the vast majority of women who always wore them.[96][105][115][126][127] Wearing headscarves and chadors was used as a significant populist tool and Iranian veiled women played an important rule in the revolution's victory.[105][116][118] A very small, but vocal, minority of thoroughly Westernized women from the upper class who totally opposed wearing of headscarves was democratically overwhelmed and defeated, and many of them left the country.[96][115][127][128] Since the official reveiling in 1984,[127] post revolutionary Iranian women's fashion gradually evolved from the monotonous chador to its present form, where a simple headscarf (rousari) combined with other colorful elements of clothing has become more predominant.[109][123] In 2010, 531 young females (aged 15–29) from different cities in nine provinces of Iran participated in a study the results of which showed that 77 percent prefer stricter covering, 19 percent loose covering, and only 4 percent don’t believe in veiling at all.[129] A tendency towards Western dress correlated with 66 percent of the latest non-compliance with the dress-code.[129] Some relaxation is being provided for not following the islamic dress code, now Women will no longer be arrested for flouting dress code, violators will instead be made to attend classes given by police[130][131][132].

Over the past two centuries, women have played a prominent role in Persian literature. Contemporary Iranian poets include Simin Behbahani, Forough Farrokhzad, Parvin Etesami. Simin Behbahani has written passionate love poems as well as narrative poetry enriched by a motherly affection for all humans.[133] Behbahani is president of The Iranian Writers' Association and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in literature in 1997.

Contemporary authors include Simin Daneshvar, Mahshid Amirshahi, Shahrnush Pârsipur, Moniru Ravânipur and Zoya Pirzad to name a few. Daneshvar's work spans pre-Revolutionary and post-Revolutionary Iranian literature. Her first collection of short stories, Âtash-e khâmush (Fire Quenched), was published in 1948. It was the first collection of short stories published by a woman in Iran. In 1969, she published Savushun (Mourners of Siyâvash), a novel that reflected the Iranian experience of modernity during the 20th century. It was the first novel published by a woman in Iran. Daneshvar was the first president of the Iranian Writers' Association. Shahrnush Pârsipur became popular in the 1980s following the publication of her short stories. Her 1990 novel, Zanân bedûn-e Mardân (Women Without Men), addressed issues of sexuality and identity. It was banned by the Islamic Republic. Moniru Ravânipur's work includes a collection of short stories, Kanizu (The Female Slave), and her novel Ahl-e gharq (The People of Gharq). Ravânipur is known for her focus on rituals, customs and traditions of coastal life.[134]

Perhaps Qamar ol-Molouk Vaziri was the first female master of Persian music who introduced a new style of music and was praised by other masters of Persian music of the time.[citation needed] Several years later, Mahmoud Karimi trained women students—Arfa Atrai, Soosan Matloobi, Fatemeh Vaezi, Masoomeh Mehr-Ali and Soosan Aslani—who later became masters of Persian traditional music. Soodabeh Salem and Sima Bina developed Iranian children's music and Iranian folk music respectively.

Innovations made by Iranian women are not restricted to Persian music. For instance, Lily Afshar is working on a combination of Persian and Western classical music.

Googoosh is one of the most famous Iranian singers. Her legacy dates back to pre-Revolutionary times in Iran, where her fame reached heights equivalent to Elvis Presley or Barbra Streisand. She became iconic when after the 1979 Iranian Revolution, she lived unheard of for more than 20 years. In 2000, she emerged from Iran and toured the world.

Iranian writer-director Rakhshan Bani-Etemad is probably Iran's best known and certainly most prolific female filmmaker. She has established herself as the elder stateswoman of Iranian cinema with documentaries and films about social pathology. One of the best-known female film directors in the country today is Samira Makhmalbaf, who directed her first film, The Apple, when she was only 17 years old. Samira Makhmalbaf won the 2000 Cannes Jury Prize for Blackboards, a film about the trials of two traveling teachers in Kurdistan.

In Europe and the United States there is a pervasive stereotype about women in Iran and the Islamic World in general. They are perceived as helpless victims of a patriarchal system that oppresses and enslaves them. This image is reinforced through superficial observations of female dress, and outdated stories of female treatment in Islamic nations.[123]:10 Such distorted perspective was criticized by Ayatollah Khomeini, who argued:

People say that for instance in Islam women have to go inside the house and lock themselves in. This is a false accusation. In the early years of Islam women were in the army, they even went to battlefields. Islam is no opposed to universities. It opposes corruption in the universities; it opposes backwardness in the universities; it opposes colonial universities. Islam has nothing against universities. Islam empowers women. It puts them next to men. They are equals.

No place in the Islamic World today has been more stigmatized for its alleged poor treatment of women than Iran. However, stereotypes of Iranian women promulgated in the West are hopelessly out of date. They ignore the extraordinary efforts that women have made on their own behalf to improve their lives. These efforts range from simple choices in clothing to more dramatic life choices in family composition, education, and career.[123]:149–150 According to William O. Beeman:

The most surprising development for me was the clear impression that, contrary to American belief, women in the Islamic Republic were better off in many respects than they were under the Pahlavi regime. Moreover, their condition has continued to improve. Women have always had a strong role in Iranian life. Their prominent and often decisive participation in public political movements has been especially noteworthy. Brave and often ruthlessly pragmatic, women have been more than willing to take to the streets in a good public cause throughout modern Iranian history. The Islamic Republic has made a special point of emphasizing women's equality in education, employment, and politics as a matter of national pride. Although women have served in the Iranian legislature and as government ministers since the 1950s, there are more women in the current parliament than ever served under the Pahlavi regime. Iranian women may actually be in the vanguard in the Islamic World. As their progress becomes better known, they are sure to inspire others to pursue their dreams. The New Islamic Woman is a reality, and will undoubtedly be a force to reckon with in the future.

Distorted perceptions about foreign women are also common inside Iran itself, where American and Western women are frequently seen as commodified objects of male desire. Although both Iranian and Western views are inaccurate, these images that frequently give the two peoples one of the most potent views of the other.[123]:10

^Xiu Ouyang; Richard L. Davis (2004). Historical records of the five dynasties (illustrated, annotated ed.). Columbia University Press. p. 544. ISBN0-231-12826-6. Retrieved 2012-01-04. Liu Chang, originally named Jixing, had been invested Prince of Wei.. . Because court affairs were monopolized by Gong Chengshu and cohort, Liu Chang in the inner palace could play his debauched games with female attendants, including a Persian. He never again emerged to inquire of state affairs

^Tōyō Bunko (Japan). Kenkyūbu (1928). Memoirs of the Research Department of the Toyo Bunko (the Oriental Library), Issue 2. The Toyo Bunko. p. 52. Retrieved 2012-01-04. 17) Concerning the Po-sm-fu $L $f M, ie. the Persian women, Chttang Ch'o 3£$# towards the beginning of the South Sung, in his Chi-lei-pien WM, says: "The Po- ssu-fu at Kuang-chou make holes all round their ears. There are some who wear more than twenty ear-rings." M jW Hfc Sf £w. ... The ear-rings were much in fashion among the Persians in the reign of Sasan (Spiegee, Erani^e/ie Alterthumskunde, Bd. Ill, s. 659), and after the conquest of the Saracens, the Moslem ladies had a still stronger passion for them (Hughes, Dictionary of Islam, p. 102).Original from the University of Michigan

^Herbert Franke, ed. (1976). Sung biographies, Volume 2. Steiner. p. 620. ISBN3-515-02412-3. Retrieved 2012-01-04. During his reign the number of castrati at the palace increased to about 5 000. Great power was also given to a palace beauty named Liu Ch'iung- hsien JäP) 3^ iA*, and especially to a female shaman Fan Hu-tzu ^ fcfi 3~, who claimed to.. . But Liu was free to spend his days with the Persian girls in his harem, and to oversee the decoration of his splendid new palaces with costly substances. It is said that he used 3 000 taels of silver in making a single column of the ceremonial hall named Wan-cheng tien

^North China Branch, Shanghai, China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland; China Branch, Shanghai Literary and Scientific Society (1890). Journal of the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Volume 24. SHANGHAI: Kelly & Walsh. p. 299. Retrieved 2012-01-04. The Wu Tai Shï says that Liu Ch'ang (劉鋹 Emperor of the Southern Han dynasty reigning at Canton, about AD 970). "...was dallying with his palace girls and Persian (波斯) women in the inner apartments, and left the government of his state to the ministersCS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link) Original from the University of Michigan

^Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, China Branch (1890). Journal of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society for the year ... 24–25. p. 299. Retrieved 2012-01-04 – via Princeton University. The Wu Tai Shï says that Liu Ch'ang (劉鋹), Emperor of the Southern Han dynasty reigning at Canton, about AD 970) ... was dallying with his palace girls and Persian (波斯) women in the inner apartments, and left the government of his state to the ministers

^Joseph Needham (1986). Joseph Needham, ed. Science and civilisation in China: Biology and biological technology. Botany. Volume 6, Part 1 of Science and Civilisation in China. Cambridge University Press. p. 276. ISBN0-521-08731-7. Retrieved 2012-01-04. In the Former Shu State, in the capital of Chhengtu, between the years +919 and +925, one could have met at the court of the reigning house of Wang a remarkable girl named Li Shun-Hsien3, ornamenting the age by her poetic talent no less than her beauty. Together with her two brothers, the younger Li Hsien4 and the elder Li Hsiin5, she came of a family of Persian origin which had settled in West China about + 88o, b acquiring wealth and renown as ship-owners and merchants in the spice trade. c Li Hsien was a student of perfumes and their distilled attars as well as a merchant, d but he also worked on Taoist alchemy and investigated the actions of inorganic medicaments. e The one who took up the brush was Li Hsiin, for about +923 he produced his Hai Tao Pen Tshao6 (Materia Medico of the Countries beyond the Seas)/ study of 12 1 plants and animals and their products, nearly all foreign, with at least 15 completely new introductions.8 His work as a naturalist was highly regarded by subsequent scholars, and often quoted in the later pandects.11 Li Hsiin was interested in all 'overseas' drugs, whether of the Arabic and Persian culture-areas or of East Indian and Malayo-Indonesian origin.

^ abcdefgChehabi, Houchang Esfandiar (2003): "11. The Banning of the Veil and Its Consequences" in Cronin, Stephanie: The Making of Modern Iran: State and Society under Riza Shah, 1921–1941, pp. 203–221, London; New York: Routledge; Taylor & Francis, ISBN9780415302845

^ abcdefghKatouzian, Homa (2006). State and Society in Iran: The Eclipse of the Qajars and the Emergence of the Pahlavis, 2nd ed, Library of modern Middle East studies, Vol. 28, London; New York: I.B. Tauris, pp. 33–34, 335–336, ISBN9781845112721

Qajar Women Archive, a digital archive of primary-source materials related to the lives of women during the Qajar era (1786 - 1925) in Iran. The Harvard University Library (HUL) central infrastructure accommodates and catalogs the archive.

1.
Women in government
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Women in government in the modern era are under-represented in most countries worldwide. Even though some progress has made during the last two centuries, and women are increasingly being politically elected to be heads of state and government. As of January 2017, the participation rate of women in national-level parliaments is 23. 3%. A number of countries are exploring measures that may increase womens participation in government at all levels, increasing womens representation in the government can empower women and is necessary to achieve gender parity. This notion of womens empowerment is rooted in the capabilities approach. Female representatives not only womens rights, but also advance the rights of children. In national legislatures, there is a trend of women advancing gender. This advocacy has been seen in countries ranging from France, Sweden and the Netherlands, to South Africa, Rwanda, furthermore, a number of studies from both industrialized and developed countries indicate that women in local government tend to advance social issues. As of October 25,2013, the average of women in national assemblies is 21. 5%. At http, //www. quotaproject. org/quotas. cfm Although over 60% of countries have reached at least 10% women in their national legislature, by February 2006, only about 10% of sovereign nations had more than 30% women in parliament. The major English-speaking democracies are placed mostly in the top 40% of the ranked countries, New Zealand ranks at position 27 with women comprising 32. 2% of its parliament. Australia and Canada rank at position 46 out of 189 countries, the United Kingdom is ranked at 58, while the United States ranks 78. It should be noted not all of these lower and/or upper houses in national parliaments are democratically elected, for example. Paxton describes three factors that are the basis for why national level representation has become larger over the past several decades. The second is the factor, representation of women in office being based on a proportionality system. Some voting systems are built so that a party that gains 25% of the votes gains 25% of the seats, in these processes, a political party feels obligated to balance the representation within their votes between genders, increasing womens activity in political standing. Women face numerous obstacles in achieving representation in governance and their participation has been limited by the assumption that womens proper sphere is the private sphere. Whereas the public domain is one of authority and contestation, the private realm is associated with the family

2.
Secondary education
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Secondary education covers two phases on the ISCED scale. Level 2 or junior secondary education is considered the second and final phase of basic education, every country aims to provide basic education, but the systems and terminology remain unique to them. Secondary education typically takes place six years of primary education and is followed by higher education. In most countries it is compulsory for students between the ages 11 and 16, Compulsory education sometimes extends to age 19. In classical and mediaeval times secondary education was provided by the church for the sons of nobility and to boys preparing for universities, as trade required navigational and scientific skills the church reluctantly expanded the curriculum and widened the intake. As late as 1868, secondary schools were organised to satisfy the needs of different social classes with the labouring classes getting 4yrs, the merchant class 5yrs, only then did it become accepted that girls could be sent to school. The rights to an education were codified after 1945, and countries are still working to achieve the goal of mandatory. It is at this education level, particularly in its first cycle. Within a country these can be implemented in different ways, with different age levels, Level 1 and Level 2, that is primary education and lower secondary together form basic education. Though they may be dated they do provide a set of definitions. The educational aim is to complete provision of education, completing the delivery of basic skills. The end of secondary education often coincides with the end of compulsory education in countries where that exists. There are also vocational schools that last only three years. Secondary schools supply students with primary subjects needed for the work environment in Croatia. People who completed secondary school are classified as medium expertise, there are currently around 90 gymnasiums and some 300 vocational schools in Croatia. The public secondary schools are under the jurisdiction of regional government, the two secondary phases are the Gymnasium followed by Eniaio Lykeio or Unified Lyceum. The third phase is the Post-secondary education consisting of public institutions or universities. Due to historic reasons, the Czech school system is almost the same as the German school system, the school system is free and mandatory until age 15

3.
Women's history
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Womens history is the study of the role that women have played in history and the methods required to do so. The main centers of scholarship have been the United States and Britain, History was written mainly by men and about mens activities in the public sphere—war, politics, diplomacy and administration. Women are usually excluded and, when mentioned, are portrayed in sex-stereotypical roles such as wives, mothers, daughters. The study of history is value-laden in regard to what is considered historically worthy, other aspects of this area of study is the differences in womens lives caused by race, economic status, social status, and various other aspects of society. Changes came in the 19th and 20th centuries, for example, Women traditionally ran the household, bore and reared the children, were nurses, mothers, wives, neighbors, friends, and teachers. During periods of war, women were drafted into the market to undertake work that had been traditionally restricted to men. Following the wars, they invariably lost their jobs in industry and had to return to domestic, the history of Scottish women in the late 19th century and early 20th century was not fully developed as a field of study until the 1980s. In addition, most work on women before 1700 has been published since 1980, scholars are also uncovering womens voices in their letters, memoirs, poetry, and court records. In Ireland studies of women, and gender relationships more generally, had been rare before 1990, they now are commonplace with some 3000 books and articles in print. But approaches used by academics in the research of broadly based social histories has been applied to the field of womens history as well. The high level of research and publication in womens and gender history is due to the high interest within French society, in the Ancien Régime in France, few women held any formal power, some queens did, as did the heads of Catholic convents. In the Enlightenment, the writings of philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau provided a program for reform of the ancien régime. Rousseaus conception of the relations between private and public spheres is more unified than that found in modern sociology, Rousseau argued that the domestic role of women is a structural precondition for a modern society. Salic law prohibited women from rule, however, the laws for the case of a regency, the queen could ensure the passage of power from one king to another—from her late husband to her young son—while simultaneously assuring the continuity of the dynasty. Educational aspirations were on the rise and were becoming increasingly institutionalised in order to supply the church, girls were schooled too, but not to assume political responsibility. Girls were ineligible for leadership positions and were considered to have an inferior intellect to their brothers. France had many local schools where working-class children - both boys and girls - learned to read, the better to know, love. The Enlightenment challenged this model, but no alternative was presented for female education

4.
Legal rights of women in history
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The legal rights of women refers to the social and human rights of women. One of the first womens rights declarations was the Declaration of Sentiments, the dependent position of women in early law is proved by the evidence of most ancient systems. In the Mosaic law, for monetary matters, womens and mens rights were almost exactly equal, a woman was entitled to her own private property, including land, livestock, slaves, and servants. A woman had the right to inherit whatever anyone bequeathed to her as a death gift, a woman could likewise bequeath her belongings to others as a death gift. Upon dying intestate, a womans property would be inherited by her if she had them, her husband if she was married. A woman could sue in court and did not need a male to represent her, in some situations, women actually had more rights than men. For example, captive women had to be ransomed prior to any male captives, when it came to specific religious or sacramental activities, women had fewer opportunities or privileges than men. For example, in monetary or capital cases women could not serve as witnesses, a woman could not serve as a kohen in the Temple. A woman could not serve as queen, the monarch had to be male, a divorce could only be granted by the husband, upon which time she would receive the Ketubah and the return of significant portions of her dowry. In Ancient Egypt, legally, a woman shared the rights and status as a man – at least. An Egyptian woman was entitled to her own property, which could include land, livestock, slaves and servants. She had the right to inherit whatever anyone bequeathed to her and she could divorce her husband, and sue in court. Most notably, a woman could do these legal matters without a male to represent her, however, on the whole, men vastly outnumbered women in most trades, including government administrators, the average woman still centered her time around the home and family. A few women became pharaohs, and women held important positions in government, in ancient Athenian law, women lacked many of the legal rights given to their male counterparts. They were excluded from appearing in law courts or participating in the assembly, historians doubt that this ideal could have been attained except by the richest women, however. Women in Classical Athens did have the right to divorce, though they lost all rights to any children they had by their husband upon divorce, Roman law similar to Athenian law, was created by men in favor of men. Women had no voice, and no public role which only improved after the 1st century to the 6th century BCE. Freeborn women of ancient Rome were citizens had legal privileges and protections that did not extend to non-citizens or slaves, Roman society, however, was patriarchal, and women could not vote, hold public office, or serve in the military

5.
Woman
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A woman is a female human. The term woman is usually reserved for an adult, with the girl being the usual term for a female child or adolescent. The term woman is sometimes used to identify a female human, regardless of age. Women with typical genetic development are usually capable of giving birth from puberty until menopause, the spelling of woman in English has progressed over the past millennium from wīfmann to wīmmann to wumman, and finally, the modern spelling woman. In Old English, wīfmann meant female human, whereas wēr meant male human, the medial labial consonants f and m in wīfmann coalesced into the modern form woman, while the initial element, which meant female, underwent semantic narrowing to the sense of a married woman. It is a misconception that the term woman is etymologically connected to womb. Womb is actually from the Old English word wambe meaning stomach, the symbol for the planet Venus is the sign also used in biology for the female sex. It is a representation of the goddess Venuss hand-mirror or an abstract symbol for the goddess. The Venus symbol also represented femininity, and in ancient alchemy stood for copper, alchemists constructed the symbol from a circle above an equilateral cross. Womanhood is the period in a life after she has passed through childhood and adolescence. The word woman can be used generally, to any female human or specifically. The word girl originally meant young person of either sex in English, in particular, previously common terms such as office girl are no longer widely used. Referring to a female human as a woman may, in such a culture, imply that she is sexually experienced. There are various words used to refer to the quality of being a woman, menarche, the onset of menstruation, occurs on average at age 12-13. The earliest women whose names are known through archaeology include, Neithhotep, the wife of Narmer, merneith, consort and regent of ancient Egypt during the first dynasty. She may have been ruler of Egypt in her own right, merit-Ptah, also lived in Egypt and is the earliest known female physician and scientist. Peseshet, a physician in Ancient Egypt, puabi, or Shubad – queen of Ur whose tomb was discovered with many expensive artifacts. Other known pre-Sargonic queens of Ur include Ashusikildigir, Ninbanda, kugbau, a taverness from Kish chosen by the Nippur priesthood to become hegemonic ruler of Sumer, and in later ages deified as Kubaba

6.
Women and animal advocacy
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Women have played a central role in animal advocacy since the 19th century. The animal advocacy movement – embracing animal rights, animal welfare, Women are more likely to support animal rights than men.4 million people who call themselves vegetarian, 68% are female, while only 32% are male. Women and animals were considered equally irrational and inferior in the past. She published The Perfect Way in Diet, advocating vegetarianism, and was vocal in her opposition to animal experiments. The affair however continued for years, making a name both for Lind af Hageby and for the society. Australian writer and academic Coral Lansbury writes that the suffragist movement in the United Kingdom became closely linked with the anti-vivisection movement, writing about the Brown Dog affair, she argues that the iconography of vivisection struck a chord with women. In 1944 the Vegan Society, a charity and the oldest vegan society in the world, was founded on 1 November in the UK by Elsie Sally Shrigley. The first vegan society in the United States was founded in 1948 by Catherine Nimmo and Rubin Abramowitz in California, in 1951 the Animal Welfare Institute was founded by Christine Stevens. On November 22,1954, the Humane Society of the United States was founded by Marcia Glaser, Helen Jones, in 1962 the Animal Welfare Board of India was founded by Rukmini Devi Arundale. Brophy wrote, The relationship of homo sapiens to the animals is one of unremitting exploitation. We employ their work, we eat and wear them, to us it seems incredible that the Greek philosophers should have scanned so deeply into right and wrong and yet never noticed the immorality of slavery. Perhaps 3000 years from now it will seem equally incredible that we do not notice the immorality of our own oppression of animals, British political scientist Robert Garner writes that Ruth Harrisons book and Brigid Brophys article led to an explosion of interest in the relationship between humans and nonhumans. They decided to put together a symposium to discuss the theory of animal rights, around the same time, the British writer Richard D. Ryder wrote several letters to The Daily Telegraph criticizing animal experimentation, these letters were seen by Brophy, who put Ryder in touch with the Godlovitches and Harris. Harrison, Brophy, and Ryder subsequently became contributors to the Godlovitches symposium, in 1973 Dr. Shirley McGreal founded the International Primate Protection League in Thailand. In 1980 the English-born British/American animal rights activist Ingrid Newkirk co-founded People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. In 1981 Feminists for Animal Rights was founded in California, it became an organization in the following years and was active nationwide for over two decades, but is now defunct. In 1984 Virginia McKenna OBE founded the Born Free Foundation together with her husband Bill Travers OBE, the Born Free Foundation is a dynamic international wildlife charity

7.
Female entrepreneur
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Female entrepreneurs are said to encompass approximately 1/3 of all entrepreneurs worldwide. Traditionally, an entrepreneur has been defined as a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk. Rather than working as an employee, an entrepreneur runs a business and assumes all the risk and reward of a given business venture, idea. The entrepreneur is commonly seen as a leader and innovator of new ideas and business processes. Entrepreneurial spirit is characterized by innovation. For example, in the 2000s, the field of social entrepreneurship has been identified, in which entrepreneurs combine business activities with humanitarian and they act as the manager and oversee the launch and growth of an enterprise. Entrepreneurship is the process by which an individual identifies a business opportunity and acquires, for Schumpeter, the changes and dynamic disequilibrium brought on by the innovating entrepreneur. The ‘norm’ of a healthy economy, in the 2010s, entrepreneurship can be studied in college or university as part of the disciplines of management or business administration. Before the 20th century, female operated small businesses as a way of supplementing their income, in many cases, they were trying to avoid poverty or were replacing the income from the loss of a spouse. At that time, the ventures that these women undertook were not thought of as entrepreneurial, many of them had to focus on their domestic responsibilities. The term entrepreneur is used to describe individuals who have ideas for products and/or services that turn into a working business. In earlier times, this term was reserved for men, in the 17th century, Dutch colonists who came to what is now known as New York City, operated under a matriarchal society. In this society, many women inherited money and lands, and through this inheritance, one of the most successful women from this time was Margaret Hardenbrook Philipse, who was a merchant, a ship owner, and was involved in the trading of goods. During the mid 18th century, it was popular for women to own certain businesses like brothels, alehouses, taverns, most of these businesses were not perceived with good reputations, because, it was considered shameful for women to be in these positions. Society frowned upon women involved in businesses, because, they detracted from the womens supposed gentle. During the 18th and 19th centuries, more came out from under the oppression of societys limits. Despite the disapproval of society, women such as Rebecca Lukens flourished, in 1825, Lukens took her family business of Iron works, and turned it into a profit-generating steel business. In the 1900s, due to a progressive way of thinking. Although these female entrepreneurs serviced mostly female consumers, they were making great strides

8.
Female education
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Female education is a catch-all term for a complex set of issues and debates surrounding education for girls and women. It includes areas of gender equality and access to education, while the feminist movement certainly promoted the importance of the issues attached to female education the discussion is wide-ranging and by no means narrowly defined. It may include, for example, AIDS education, universal education, meaning state-provided primary and secondary education independent of gender is not yet a global norm, even if it is assumed in most developed countries. In some Western countries, women have surpassed men at many levels of education, for example, in the United States in 2005/2006, women earned 62% of associate degrees, 58% of bachelors degrees, 60% of masters degrees, and 50% of doctorates. Education for disabled women has also improved, in 2011, Giusi Spagnolo became the first woman with Down Syndrome to graduate college in Europe. Improving girls educational levels has been demonstrated to have clear impacts on the health and economic future of young women, the infant mortality rate of babies whose mothers have received primary education is half that of children whose mothers are illiterate. In the poorest countries of the world, 50% of girls do not attend secondary school, yet, research shows that every extra year of school for girls increases their lifetime income by 15%. Improving female education, and thus the potential of women, improves the standard of living for their own children. Yet, many barriers to education for girls remain, in some African countries, such as Burkina Faso, girls are unlikely to attend school for such basic reasons as a lack of private latrine facilities for girls. Education increases a level of health and health awareness. It can lead to rates of barrier and chemical contraceptive use. It has been shown, in addition, to increase communication with their partners and their employers. Education and Violence Against Women In Pakistan, a relationship was found between the formal level of education a woman attains and the likelihood of violence against that woman. The researcher used snowball convenient sampling, a method where participants are referred. Ethical and privacy issues made this the most convenient method, an informant played a major role in gathering information that was then cross-checked. The sample of victims of violence was made up of married women from ages 18–60 both from rural and urban communities, the study described different forms of physical violence that are already present and provided an idea of what women go through, even across communities. Education in this study was stressed to be the solution and a necessity in eliminating violence, a discussion of political and social barriers is needed. The relationship is a lot more complicated than it seems, women can be illiterate, immigrant Latina Women are a highly affected group by domestic violence

9.
Feminism
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Feminism is a range of political movements, ideologies, and social movements that share a common goal, to define and advance political, economic, personal, and social rights for women. This includes seeking to establish opportunities for women in education. Feminists have also worked to promote autonomy and integrity, and to protect women and girls from rape, sexual harassment. Numerous feminist movements and ideologies have developed over the years and represent different viewpoints, some forms of feminism have been criticized for taking into account only white, middle class, and educated perspectives. This criticism led to the creation of specific or multicultural forms of feminism, including black feminism. Charles Fourier, a Utopian Socialist and French philosopher, is credited with having coined the word féminisme in 1837, depending on the historical moment, culture and country, feminists around the world have had different causes and goals. Most western feminist historians assert that all working to obtain womens rights should be considered feminist movements. Other historians assert that the term should be limited to the modern feminist movement and those historians use the label protofeminist to describe earlier movements. The history of the modern western feminist movements is divided into three waves, each wave dealt with different aspects of the same feminist issues. The first wave comprised womens suffrage movements of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the second wave was associated with the ideas and actions of the womens liberation movement beginning in the 1960s. The second wave campaigned for legal and social equality for women, the third wave is a continuation of, and a reaction to, the perceived failures of second-wave feminism, beginning in the 1990s. First-wave feminism was a period of activity during the 19th century, in the UK and US, it focused on the promotion of equal contract, marriage, parenting, and property rights for women. This was followed by Australia granting female suffrage in 1902, in 1928 this was extended to all women over 21. In the U. S. notable leaders of this movement included Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, anthony, who each campaigned for the abolition of slavery prior to championing womens right to vote. These women were influenced by the Quaker theology of spiritual equality, in the United States, first-wave feminism is considered to have ended with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, granting women the right to vote in all states. During the late Qing period and reform movements such as the Hundred Days Reform, Chinese feminists called for womens liberation from traditional roles, later, the Chinese Communist Party created projects aimed at integrating women into the workforce, and claimed that the revolution had successfully achieved womens liberation. According to Nawar al-Hassan Golley, Arab feminism was closely connected with Arab nationalism, in 1899, Qasim Amin, considered the father of Arab feminism, wrote The Liberation of Women, which argued for legal and social reforms for women. He drew links between womens position in Egyptian society and nationalism, leading to the development of Cairo University, in 1923 Hoda Shaarawi founded the Egyptian Feminist Union, became its president and a symbol of the Arab womens rights movement

10.
Women in conservatism in the United States
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Women in conservatism in the United States have advocated for social, political, economic, and cultural conservative policies since Anti-suffragism. Leading conservative women such as Phyllis Schlafly have expressed that women should embrace their privileged essential nature, Women first began to oppose suffrage in Massachusetts in 1868. They succeeded in blocking the proposal, and this caused the movement to gain momentum, the National Association Opposed to Women Suffrage was thus formed by Josephine Dodge in 1911 with approximately 350,000 members. This organization mostly consisted of women who were often wives of politicians. These women helped defeat nearly 40 suffrage proposals, and published the Womens Protest in order to voice their agenda nationwide. Dodge and the organization argued that women should stay out of politics in order to be efficient and diligent in work for which her nature. These anti-feminist beliefs are shaped the anti-suffrage crusade. A major source of womens activism was in Southern California in the 1950s and 1960s, particularly in Orange County. These women mainly consisted of suburban warriors, or middle class housewives who feared that their Christian nation was under attack. Increasing Cold War tensions and fears of Communism allowed for women to mobilize groups such as the John Birch Society. They eventually backed politician Barry Goldwater and successfully campaigned for him to become the candidate for the Republican Party in 1964. However, Goldwater lost the election to Lyndon Johnson in a landslide. Still, his nomination illustrated the shift from moderation to more hardline stances in many members of the Republican Party and his campaign also showcased the success of conservative grassroots organizations and mobilization. After Goldwaters defeat, grassroots conservatives had to rethink their strategy, thus, conservative women soon turned to Ronald Reagan. He won over the support of the women of Orange County, however, there were some women that opposed him due to his more mainstream views. Cyril Stevenson, a prominent leader of the California Republican Assembly and these attempts failed, nevertheless, as Reagan was elected. However, a lower amount of women than men voted for Reagan when he was eventually elected President of the United States. Reagan gained the support of conservative women by attempting to close this gender gap

11.
Queen regnant
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An empress regnant is a female monarch who reigns in her own right over an empire. A queen regnant possesses and exercises sovereign powers, a queen consort shares her husbands rank and titles, but does not share the sovereignty of her husband. The husband of a queen regnant traditionally does not share his wifes rank, however, the concept of a king consort is not unheard of in contemporary or classical periods. A queen dowager is the widow of a king, a queen mother is a queen dowager who is also the mother of a reigning sovereign. The Byzantine Empress Irene sometimes called herself basileus, emperor, rather than basilissa, empress and Jadwiga of Poland was crowned as Rex Poloniae, King of Poland. Among the Davidic Monarchs of the Kingdom of Judah, there is mentioned a queen regnant, Athaliah. The much later Hasmonean Queen Salome Alexandra was highly popular, accession of a regnant occurs as a nations order of succession permits. The scope of succession may be matrilineal, patrilineal, or both, or, rarely, open to general election when necessary, the right of succession may be open to men and women, or limited to men only or women only. Historically, many realms forbade succession by women or through a line in obedience to the Salic law. No queen regnant ever ruled France, for example, only one woman, Maria Theresa, ruled Austria. As noted in the list below of widely known ruling queens, in the waning days of the 20th century and early days of the 21st, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Luxembourg and the UK amended their acts of succession to absolute primogeniture. In some cases the change does not take effect during the lifetimes of people already in the line of succession at the time the law was passed, in 2011, the 16 Realms of the Commonwealth agreed to remove the rule of male-preference primogeniture. Once the necessary legislation was passed, this means that had Prince William had a daughter first, in China, Wu Zetian became the Chinese empress regnant and established the Zhou Dynasty after dismissing her sons. It should be noted, however, that Empress Wu used the title huangdi and in many European sources, although the Chrysanthemum Throne of Japan is currently barred to women, this has not always been the case, throughout Japanese history there have been eight empresses regnant. Again, the Japanese language uses the term josei tennō for the position which would be empress regnant in English, monarch Order of succession Queen consort Rani Regent Salic law Sultana Monter, William. The Rise of Female Kings in Europe, 1300-1800, studies 30 women who exercised full sovereign authority in Europe

12.
List of queens regnant
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This is a list of Queens who have ruled as Queen in many countries. Included also are Pharaohs and Empresses, if the Queen ruled as a regent this is indicated by following the name. Where a queen had no powers but only the title is added and they became, in effect, co-rulers, and both took the epithet Philadelphus. Because of this many of the kings ruled jointly with their spouses. The only Ptolemaic Queens to officially rule on their own were Berenice III, cleopatra VI did co-rule, but it was with another female, Berenice IV. In 75 BC, Cyrene became part of a Roman province, the succession to the position of Rain Queen is matrilineal, meaning that the Queens eldest daughter is the heir, and that males are not entitled to inherit the throne at all. The Rain Queen is believed to have powers, including the ability to control the clouds. Powerful empress consorts or empress dowagers were de facto rulers, emperor Xiaomings daughter is also therefore not usually considered a true emperor. She was the first female ruler of Bhopal and she declared that her 2-year-old daughter Sikander would follow her as the ruler, none of the male family members dared to challenge her decision. She ruled till 1837, when she died having adequately prepared her daughter for ruling the state, Begum Sultan Shah Jehan - Shahjahan was the only surviving child of Sikandar Begum, sometime Nawab of Bhopal by correct title, and her husband Jahangir Mohammed Khan. She was recognised as ruler of Bhopal in 1844 at the age of six, however, in 1860, her mother Sikandar Begum was recognised by the British as ruler of Bhopal in her own right, and Shahjahan was set aside. Their names are Trưng Trắc and Trưng Nhị, Empress Mother Ỷ Lan, First regentship 1069. She was the sovereign of Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, Mantua, Milan, Lodomeria and Galicia, in some of the Habsburg dominions, she held the title of queen. By marriage, she was also Duchess of Lorraine, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, in 1105, she married King Niels of Denmark, described as a passive monarch who lacked the capacity to rule and who left the affairs of the state to her. With Niels blessing, Margaret became the de facto Queen regnant of Denmark, the Danish coins printed during this period bears the inscription, Margareta-Nicalas. Margaret I - she was founder of the Kalmar Union, which united the Scandinavian countries for over a century, Margaret is known in Denmark as Margrethe I to distinguish her from the current queen. Denmark did not have a tradition of allowing women to rule, so when her son died, she was titled All-powerful Lady and her use of the imperial styling was limited, much more so than that of her predecessor and successor. After the death of Sanchas brother, Alfonso IX named his son, also Ferdinand, his heir

13.
Women's health
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Womens health refers to the health of women, which differs from that of men in many unique ways. Often treated as simply womens reproductive health, many argue for a broader definition pertaining to the overall health of women. These differences are further exacerbated in developing countries where women, whose health includes both their risks and experiences, are further disadvantaged. Gender remains an important social determinant of health, since womens health is influenced not just by their biology but also by such as poverty, employment. Womens reproductive and sexual health places a burden on them. Comorbidity from other non reproductive disease such as cardiovascular disease contribute to both the mortality and morbidity of pregnancy, including preeclampsia. In addition infertility from many causes, birth control, unplanned pregnancy, unconsensual sexual activity. While the rates of the causes of death, cardiovascular disease, cancer. Lung cancer has overtaken all other types of cancer as the cause of cancer death in women, followed by breast cancer, colorectal, ovarian, uterine. While smoking is the cause of lung cancer, amongst nonsmoking women the risk of developing cancer is three times greater than amongst nonsmoking men. HPV vaccine together with screening offers the promise of controlling these diseases, other important health issues for women include cardiovascular disease, depression, dementia, osteoporosis and anemia. Womens experience of health and disease differ from those of men, biological differences vary all the way from phenotype to the cellular, and manifest unique risks for the development of ill health. The World Health Organization defines health as a state of physical, mental and social well-being. Womens health is an example of health, the health of a specific defined population. Womens health has been described as a quilt with gaps. The WHO considers that an emphasis on reproductive health has been a major barrier to ensuring access to good quality health care for all women. Conditions that affect men and women, such as cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, also manifest differently in women. Womens health is of concern due to widespread discrimination against women in the world

14.
Women in journalism and media professions
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As journalism became a profession, women were restricted by custom from access to journalism occupations, and faced significant discrimination within the profession. Nevertheless, women operated as editors, reporters, sports analysts and journalists even before the 1890s, the first woman in Denmark who published articles in Danish papers were the writer Charlotte Baden, who occasionally participated in the weekly MorgenPost from 1786 to 1793. In the 1870s, the movement started and published papers of their own, with women editors. In 1912, eight women were members of the reporters union Københavns Journalistforbund, five in the club Journalistforeningen i København and a total of 35 women employed as journalists in Denmark. The first woman in Finland to work as a journalist in Finland under her own name was Adelaïde Ehrnrooth, anne-Marguerite Petit du Noyer has been referred to as one of the most famous early 18th century female journalists in Europe. Her reports of the leading to the Peace of Utrecht were read all over Europe and admired for the distinction with which she reported on scandal. The first female journalist in Norway was Birgithe Kühle, who published the local paper Provincial-Lecture in Bergen between 1794 and 1795. In Sweden, Maria Matras, known as N. Wankijfs Enka, published the paper Ordinarie Stockholmiske Posttijdender in 1690–1695, margareta Momma became the first identified female journalist and chief editor as the editor of the political essaypaper Samtal emellan Argi Skugga och en obekant Fruentimbers Skugga in 1738. Hwad Nytt. between 1773 and 1795, from the 1880s, women became more common in the offices of the press, and when women was admitted to the Swedish Publicists Association in 1885,14 women were inducted as members. The pioneer generation of journalists were generally from the upper class who wished to earn their own income. Women were employed as translators and given the responsibility for the coverage of culture, nor was the struggle of life and competition so sharp, as it has later become. The women pioneers were generally treated with sympathy and interest, even by the men, of the seven biggest newspapers in Stockholm, six had female co-workers prior to 1900, and when Swedish Union of Journalists was founded in 1901, women were included from the start. Women covered World War I and the Russian revolution and several women journalists became famed role models such as Ester Blenda Nordström and Elin Brandell. During World War I, war time rationing made it necessary to cover household interests, in 1939, Elsa Nyblom became vice chairperson of the Publicistklubben. The informal discrimination changed when women started to expand the subjects treated at the womens sections. A noted example of development was Synnöve Bellander, editor of the womens section Hus och hem at Svenska Dagbladet in 1932–59. This development in the womens sections gradually transformed them to sections for family, the 1960s signified a great change. In 1970, Pernilla Tunberger became the first woman to be awarded Stora Journalistpriset and her writing analyzes the relevant events, personalities of key actors and consequences of the military struggles she observed

15.
Women in law enforcement
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Women in law enforcement agencies have typically been outnumbered by men. The first policewoman in Germany was recruited in 1903, the first in the USA appeared in 1910, since that time many law enforcement agencies have sought to reduce discrimination and increase the numbers of women working in this sector. Henriette Arendt was a German Policewoman in 1903 and their trial period was deemed successful and from 1910 onward, policewomen were employed in other Swedish cities. During the First World War a volunteer service was established by Margaret Damer Dawson and they had joined forces after seeing the trouble faced by refugees during the war. These volunteer women were allowed to patrol the streets of London. These Women Police Volunteers were trained and they were intended to assist women during the turmoil of the war, during The First World War The Womens Police Service, led by Margaret Damer Dawson, provided women officers to police the government munitions factories. Some Chief Constables and Watch Committees also choose to employ women police, two of the first were Hull and Southampton in 1915. As the end of the First World War several groups of womens police Voluntary Patrols were in major cities in Great Britain. These well-bred women patrolling the streets to help women and children, the Voluntary Womens Force at Bath, Somerset was created in 1912. Apart from Londons Metropolitan Police commissioning of a report by a female on females in custody in 1907, the Prison Service had involved women many years previously. Matrons had been employed as staff to look after women and children. They were usually the wives of serving police officers, two women in particular sought to point out the lack of a woman Constable presence was wrong. They each had a relative in political high office, one of these women was Edith Tancred. She became a campaigner for the requirement of women police, Peto later decided to take the administrative path within the Constabulary for promotion. Both Tancred and Peto were well placed in society to get their views heard and they were soon joined by three other women campaigners, and around 1911 started unofficial street patrols from an office in Bristol to maintain public morality and decency. In 1914 Peto had joined the National Union of Women Workers, florence Mildred White left her teaching post at the Godolphin School in 1914 to live and work in the newly created Bath office of the group, where Peto had become the Assistant Patrols Organizer. White stayed until May 1918, working under the supervision of Peto, sir Leonard Dunning, Her Majestys Inspector of Constabulary wrote an article in the police magazine in 1918. About two of the six pages of his annual Report concerned the employment of women into police work

16.
Women in the military
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Even though women serving in the military has often been diverse, a very small number of women in history have fought alongside men. In the American Civil War, there were a few women who cross-dressed as men in order to fight, fighting on the battlefront in disguise was not the only way women involved themselves in war. Some also served as nurses and aides, as increasing numbers of countries begin to expand the role of women in their militaries, the debate continues. More recently, from the beginning of the 1970s, most Western armies have begun to admit women to serve active duty in all of military branches, in 9 countries women are conscripted into military. Thousands of women served as nurses and in support roles in the major armies. The only nation to deploy female combat troops in substantial numbers was Russia, from the outset, female recruits either joined up in disguise or were tacitly accepted by their units. The most prominent were a contingent of front-line light cavalry in a Cossack regiment commanded by a female colonel, in 1917, the Provisional Government raised a number of Womens Battalions, with Bochkareva given an officers commission to command the first unit. They fought well, but failed to provide the value expected of them and were disbanded before the end of the year. In the later Russian Civil War, the Bolsheviks employed some women infantry, in the 1918 Finnish Civil War, more than 2,000 women fought in the Womens Red Guards. All the main nations used women in uniform, the great majority performed nursing, clerical or support roles. Over 500,000 had combat roles in anti-aircraft units in Britain and Germany, in 1938, the British took the lead worldwide in establishing uniformed services for women, in addition to the small units of nurses that had long been in operation. In late 1941, Britain began conscripting women, sending most into factory work and some into the military, especially the Auxiliary Territorial Service and it began as a womans auxiliary to the military in 1938, and in 1941 was granted military status. Women had a role in handling anti-aircraft guns against German planes. The daughter of Prime Minister Winston Churchill was there, and he gushed that any general who saved him 40,000 fighting men had gained the equivalent of a victory. By August,1941, women were operating the instruments, they were never allowed to pull the trigger. By 1943,56,000 women were in Anti-Aircraft Command, most in units close to London where there was a risk of getting killed, the first kill came in April 1942. The Third Reich, contrary to belief, had similar roles for women. Women also served in units in the navy, air force

17.
Mother
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A mother is the female parent of a child. Mothers are women who inhabit or perform the role of bearing some relation to their children, thus, dependent on the context, women can be considered mothers by virtue of having given birth, by raising their child, supplying their ovum for fertilisation, or some combination thereof. Such conditions provide a way of delineating the concept of motherhood, women who meet the third and first categories usually fall under the terms birth mother or biological mother, regardless of whether the individual in question goes on to parent their child. Accordingly, a woman who meets only the condition may be considered an adoptive mother. The above concepts defining the role of mother are neither exhaustive nor universal, as any definition of mother may differ based on how social, cultural, and religious roles are defined. The parallel conditions and terms for males, those who are fathers do not, by definition, Mother and fatherhood are not limited to those who are or have parented. Women who are pregnant may be referred to as expectant mothers or mothers-to-be, the modern English word is from Middle English moder, from Old English mōdor, from Proto-Germanic *mōdēr, from Proto-Indo-European *méh₂tēr. Other cognates include Latin māter, Greek μήτηρ, Common Slavic *mati, Persian مادر, biological motherhood for humans, as in other mammals, occurs when a pregnant female gestates a fertilized ovum. Typically a fetus develops from the zygote, resulting in an embryo. Gestation occurs in the uterus until the fetus is sufficiently developed to be born. In humans, gestation is often around 9 months in duration, after which the woman experiences labor and this is not always the case, however, as some babies are born prematurely, late, or in the case of stillbirth, do not survive gestation. Usually, once the baby is born, the mother produces milk via the lactation process, the mothers breast milk is the source of antibodies for the infants immune system and commonly the sole source of nutrition for the first year or more of the childs life. Mother can often apply to an other than the biological parent. This is commonly either a mother or a stepmother. The term othermother or other mother is used in some contexts for women who provide care for a child not biologically their own in addition to the childs primary mother. Adoption, in forms, has been practiced throughout history. Modern systems of adoption, arising in the 20th century, tend to be governed by comprehensive statutes, in recent decades, international adoptions have become more and more common. Adoption in the United States is common and relatively easy from a point of view

18.
List of female Nobel laureates
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All but the economics prize were established by the 1895 will of Alfred Nobel, which dictates that the awards should be administered by the Nobel Foundation. Each recipient receives a medal, a diploma and a prize that has varied throughout the years. As of 2015, Nobel Prizes have been awarded to 822 men,48 women, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize was Marie Curie, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 with her husband, Pierre Curie, and Henri Becquerel. Curie is also the woman to have won multiple Nobel Prizes, in 1911. Curies daughter, Irène Joliot-Curie, won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935, the most Nobel Prizes awarded to women in a single year was in 2009, when five women became laureates. The most recent women to be awarded a Nobel Prize were Tu Youyou, List of Nobel laureates List of Asian Nobel laureates List of Jewish Nobel laureates General Specific Nobel Prize Awarded Women page on the Nobel Foundation site Alan Asaid

19.
Women in piracy
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While piracy was predominantly a male occupation, a minority of pirates were women. On many ships, women were prohibited by the ships contract, because of the resistance to allowing women on board, many female pirates did not identify themselves as such. Anne Bonny, for example, dressed and acted as a man while on Captain Calico Jacks ship and she and Mary Read, another female pirate, are often identified as being unique in this regard. This article contains a list of female pirates who are recognized by historians, during the Golden Age of Piracy, many men had to leave home to find employment or set sail for economic reasons. This left women with the responsibilities of taking on male roles. The need for women to fill these roles led them to be granted rights that had historically been exclusive to men, Women were allowed to trade, own ships, and work as retailers. Often they were innkeepers or ran alehouses, in some seaside towns, laws were even written to allow widows to keep their husbands responsibilities and property. This was important to local economies, as alehouses and other establishments were centers of commerce. As heads of these establishments, women had an amount of freedom in business. At times, female business owners would even hide their clients when authorities came looking to arrest them for piracy, some women chose to marry pirates. These men were very wealthy, but their wives tended not to gain wealth as a result of their marriages, as it was difficult for pirates to send home wages. These womens houses and establishments were often used as havens for pirates. Women sometimes became pirates themselves, though they tended to have to disguise themselves as men in order to do so, Pirates did not allow women onto their ships very often. Many women of the time were unable to perform the demanding tasks required of the crew. Additionally, women were regarded as bad luck among pirates. It was feared that the members of the crew would argue. On many ships, women were prohibited by the ships contract, because of the resistance to allowing women on board, many female pirates did not identify themselves as such. Anne Bonny, for example, dressed and acted as a man while on Captain Calico Jacks ship and she and Mary Read, another female pirate, are often identified as being unique in this regard

20.
Reproductive rights
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Reproductive rights are legal rights and freedoms relating to reproduction and reproductive health that vary amongst countries around the world. They also include the right of all to make decisions concerning reproduction free of discrimination, coercion, Reproductive rights began to develop as a subset of human rights at the United Nations 1968 International Conference on Human Rights. States, though, have been slow in incorporating these rights in internationally legally binding instruments, issues related to reproductive rights are some of the most vigorously contested rights issues worldwide, regardless of the populations socioeconomic level, religion or culture. The issue of rights is frequently presented as being of vital importance in discussions. Reproductive rights are a subset of sexual and reproductive health and rights, in 1945, the United Nations Charter included the obligation to promote. Universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without discrimination as to race, sex, language, however, the Charter did not define these rights. Three years later, the UN adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the first international document to delineate human rights. Parents have the right to determine freely and responsibly the number. The 1975 UN International Womens Year Conference echoed the Proclamation of Teheran, the twenty-year Cairo Programme of Action was adopted in 1994 at the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo. The non-binding Programme of Action asserted that governments have a responsibility to meet individuals reproductive needs, the ICPD also addressed issues such as violence against women, sex trafficking, and adolescent health. Unlike previous population conferences, a range of interests from grassroots to government level were represented in Cairo. 179 nations attended the ICPD and overall eleven thousand representatives from governments, NGOs, international agencies, the ICPD did not address the far-reaching implications of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The Cairo Programme of Action was adopted by 184 UN member states, the Beijing Platform demarcated twelve interrelated critical areas of the human rights of women that require advocacy. The Platform framed womens reproductive rights as indivisible, universal and inalienable human rights, in relation to reproductive health, Principle 9 on The Right to Treatment with Humanity while in Detention requires that States shall. Nonetheless, African, Caribbean and Islamic Countries, as well as the Russian Federation, have objected to the use of these principles as Human Rights standards. The first legal textbook on reproductive rights law, Cases on Reproductive Rights and Justice by Melissa Murray, State abuses against reproductive rights have happened both under right-wing and left-wing governments. Some governments have implemented policies of forced sterilizations of undesirable population groups. It also includes the right of all to make decisions concerning reproduction free of discrimination, coercion, in the exercise of this right, they should take into account the needs of their living and future children and their responsibilities towards the community

21.
Violence against women
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Violence against women, also known as gender-based violence, is, collectively, violent acts that are primarily or exclusively committed against women. Sometimes considered a crime, this type of violence targets a specific group with the victims gender as a primary motive. This type of violence is gender-based, meaning that the acts of violence are committed against women expressly because they are women. At least one out of three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime with the abuser usually someone known to her. Violence against women can fit into broad categories. These include violence carried out by individuals as well as states, many forms of VAW, such as trafficking in women and forced prostitution are often perpetrated by organized criminal networks. The World Health Organization, in its research on VAW, has analyzed and categorized the different forms of VAW occurring through all stages of life from birth to old age. Other definitions of VAW are provided by the 1994 Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, Violence perpetrated or condoned by the state or its officials, d. These definitions of VAW as being gender-based are seen by some to be unsatisfactory and these definitions are conceptualized in an understanding of society as patriarchal, signifying unequal relations between men and women. Opponents of such definitions argue that the definitions disregard violence against men, Other critics argue that employing the term gender in this particular way may introduce notions of inferiority and subordination for femininity and superiority for masculinity. The history of violence against women remains vague in scientific literature and this is in part because many kinds of violence against women are under-reported, often due to societal norms, taboos, stigma, and the sensitive nature of the subject. It is widely recognized that even today, a lack of reliable, although the history of violence against women is difficult to track, it is clear that much of the violence was accepted, condoned and even legally sanctioned. This rule for punishment of wives prevailed in England and America until the late 19th century, the history of violence against women is closely related to the historical view of women as property and a gender role of subservience. Explanations of patriarchy and a world system or status quo in which gender inequalities exist and are perpetuated are cited to explain the scope. According to the UN, there is no region of the world, no country, several forms of violence are more prevalent in certain parts of the world, often in developing countries. For example, dowry violence and bride burning is associated with India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, acid throwing is also associated with these countries, as well as in Southeast Asia, including Cambodia. Honor killing is associated with the Middle East and South Asia, Female genital mutilation is found mostly in Africa, and to a lesser extent in the Middle East and some other parts of Asia. Marriage by abduction is found in Ethiopia, Central Asia and the Caucasus, Abuse related to payment of bride price is linked to parts of Sub-Saharan Africa and Oceania

22.
Women's suffrage
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Womens suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Limited voting rights were gained by women in Finland, Iceland, Sweden and some Australian colonies, National and international organizations formed to coordinate efforts to gain voting rights, especially the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, and also worked for equal civil rights for women. In 1881, the Isle of Man gave women who owned property the right to vote, in 1893, the British colony of New Zealand, granted women the right to vote. The colony of South Australia, did the same in 1894 and women were able to vote in the next election, South Australia also permitted women to stand for election alongside men. In 1899 Western Australia enacted full womens suffrage, enabling women to vote in the referendum of 31 July 1900. In 1902 women in the four colonies also acquired the right to vote. Discriminatory restrictions against Aboriginal people, including women, voting in elections, were not completely removed until 1962. Norway followed, granting full womens suffrage in 1913, most independent countries enacted womens suffrage in the interwar era, including Canada in 1917, Britain in 1918 and the United States in 1920. If women could work in factories, it seemed both ungrateful and illogical to deny them a place in the polling booth. But the vote was more than simply a reward for war work. Late adopters in Europe included Spain in 1931, France in 1944, Italy in 1946, Greece in 1952, Switzerland in 1971, the United States gave women equal voting rights in all states with the Nineteenth Amendment ratified in 1920. Canada and a few Latin American nations passed womens suffrage before World War II while the vast majority of Latin American nations established womens suffrage in the 1940s, the last Latin American country to give women the right to vote was Paraguay in 1961. In December 2015, women were first allowed to vote in Saudi Arabia, extended political campaigns by women and their supporters have generally been necessary to gain legislation or constitutional amendments for womens suffrage. In many countries, limited suffrage for women was granted before universal suffrage for men, for instance, in ancient Athens, often cited as the birthplace of democracy, only adult, male citizens who owned land were permitted to vote. Through subsequent centuries, Europe was generally ruled by monarchs, though forms of parliament arose at different times. Their Protestant successors enjoyed the same privilege almost into modern times and they make decisions there like the men, and it is they who even delegated the first ambassadors to discuss peace. The Iroquois, like many First Nations peoples in North America, had a kinship system. Property and descent were passed through the female line, Women elders voted on hereditary male chiefs and could depose them

23.
Women in the workforce
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Until modern times, legal and cultural practices, combined with the inertia of longstanding religious and educational conventions, restricted womens entry and participation in the workforce. Womens lack of access to education had effectively excluded them from the practice of well-paid. Women were largely limited to low-paid and poor status occupations for most of the 19th and 20th centuries, or earned less pay than men for doing the same work. Women are viewed as the caregiver to children still to this day. The increasing rates of women contributing in the force has led to a more equal disbursement of hours worked across the regions of the world. However, in western European countries the nature of womens employment participation remains markedly different from that of men, for example, few women are in continuous full-time employment after the birth of a first child. Due to the lack of childcare and because women in Britain lose 9% of their wage after their first child and 16% after their second child. In the United States, womens earnings were 83 percent of male full-time workers in 2014. ”With the current norm in place, women are forced to juggle full-time jobs. As the Civil War raged in the U. S, much of her site visits were conducted in Philadelphia, New York and Boston. She distilled her research to list over 500 jobs that were open to women as well as the information about the jobs and she also indicated when employers offered their reasons for wage differentials based on gender. She dedicated her book to worthy and industrious women in the United States, striving to earn a livelihood, and the book garnered much attention by reviewers and scholars across the country. She sold her rights to the book to another publisher who put it out instead as an encyclopedia, The Employments of Women, A Cyclopaedia of Womans Work and it sold better once it was re-titled again in 1870 as How Women Can Make Money, Married or Single. In total, the different versions of the book ended up with 36 editions published between 1862 and 2006, and six editions of the adaptation in German. In the twentieth century, division of labor by gender has been studied most systematically in womens studies, occupational studies, such as the history of medicine or studies of professionalization, also examine questions of gender, and the roles of women in the history of particular fields. Women dominate as accountants, auditors, and psychologists and this body of law is called employment discrimination law, and gender and race discrimination are the largest sub-sections within the area. Laws specifically aimed at preventing discrimination against women have been passed in countries, see. Women still contribute to their communities in many regions mainly through agricultural work, in Southern Asia, Western Asia, and Africa, only 20% of women work at paid non-agricultural jobs. Worldwide, womens rate of employment outside of agriculture grew to 41% by 2008

24.
Women in science
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Women have made significant contributions to science from the earliest times. The historical, critical and sociological study of issues has become an academic discipline in its own right. The involvement of women in the field of medicine occurred in early civilizations. Women contributed to the proto-science of alchemy in the first or second centuries AD, during the Middle Ages, convents were an important place of education for women, and some of these communities provided opportunities for women to contribute to scholarly research. While the eleventh century saw the emergence of the first universities, women were, for the most part, the attitude to educating women in medical fields in Italy appears to have been more liberal than in other places. The first known woman to earn a university chair in a field of studies, was eighteenth century Italian scientist. Although gender roles were defined in the eighteenth century, women experienced great advances in science. During the nineteenth century, women were excluded from most formal scientific education, in the later nineteenth century the rise of the womens college provided jobs for women scientists, and opportunities for education. Marie Curie, the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize in 1903, went on to become a double Nobel Prize recipient in 1911, forty women have been awarded the Nobel Prize between 1901 and 2010. 17 women have been awarded the Nobel Prize in physics, chemistry, the involvement of women in the field of medicine has been recorded in several early civilizations. An ancient Egyptian, Merit-Ptah, described in an inscription as chief physician, is the earliest known female scientist named in the history of science, agamede was cited by Homer as a healer in ancient Greece before the Trojan War. Agnodike was the first female physician to practice legally in fourth century BC Athens, the study of natural philosophy in ancient Greece was open to women. If we are to argue chemistry as the use of equipment and processes. Even during the time of the Egyptian dynasty, women were involved in applied chemistry, such as the making of beer, a good number of women have been recorded to have made major contributions to alchemy. Many of which lived in Alexandria around the 1st or 2nd centuries AD, such distillation equipment were called kerotakis and the tribikos. Hypatia of Alexandria, daughter of Theon of Alexandria, was a teacher at the Neoplatonic School in Alexandria teaching astronomy, philosophy. She is recognized to be the first known woman mathematician in history through her major contributions to mathematics. Hypatia is credited with writing three major treatises on geometry, algebra and astronomy, as well as the invention of a hydrometer, an astrolabe, there is even evidence that Hypatia gave public lectures and may have held some sort of public office in Alexandria

25.
Women in computing
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Historically, women in computing have had an effect on the evolution of the industry, with many of the first programmers during the early 20th century being female. Since July 2012 and previously an executive, usability leader. Ada Lovelace was the first person to publish an algorithm intended to be executed by the first modern computer, the Analytical Engine created by Charles Babbage. Grace Hopper was the first person to create a compiler for a language and one of the first programmers of Mark I computer. The regularly working programmers of the ENIAC computer in 1944, were six female mathematicians, Marlyn Meltzer, Betty Holberton, Kathleen Antonelli, Ruth Teitelbaum, Jean Bartik, Adele Goldstine was one of the teachers and trainers of the six original programmers of ENIAC computer. Adele died of cancer in 1964 at the age of 44, Smalltalk was later used by Apple to launch Apple Lisa in 1983, the first personal computer with GUI, and one year later its Macintosh. Windows 1.0, based on the principles, was launched a few months later in 1985. 1842, Ada Lovelace was an analyst of Charles Babbages analytical engine,1893, Henrietta Swan Leavitt joined the Harvard computers, a group of women engaged in the production of astronomical data at Harvard. She was instrumental in discovery of the variable stars, which are evidence for the expansion of the universe. 1926, Grete Hermann published the paper for computerized algebra. It was her thesis, titled The Question of Finitely Many Steps in Polynomial Ideal Theory. 1940s, American women were recruited to do calculations and program computers during WWII. 1943, Women worked as WREN Colossus operators during WW2 at Bletchley Park,1943, Many wives of scientists at Los Alamos were first organized as computers on the Manhattan Project. 1943, Gertrude Blanch led the Mathematical Tables Project group from 1938 to 1948,1946, Betty Jennings, Betty Snyder, Frances Spence, Kay McNulty, Marlyn Wescoff, and Ruth Lichterman were the regularly working programmers of the ENIAC. Adele Goldstine, also involved in the programming, wrote the manual for the ENIAC. 1947, Irma Wyman worked on a missile guidance project at the Willow Run Research Center, to calculate trajectory, they used mechanical calculators. In 1947–48, she visited the U. S. Naval Proving Ground where Grace Hopper was working on similar problems,1948, Kathleen Booth is credited with writing the assembly language for the ARC2 computer. 1949, Grace Hopper, was a United States Navy officer and one of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark I and she developed the first compiler for an electronic computer, known as A-0

26.
Women in medicine
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Historically and presently, in many parts of the world, womens participation in the profession of medicine has been significantly restricted. However, womens informal practice of medicine in roles such as caregivers or as allied health professionals has been widespread, most countries of the world now provide women with equal access to medical education. However, not all countries ensure equal employment opportunities, and gender equality has yet to be achieved within medical specialties, Women did, however, continue to practice during this time. They continued to practice without formal training or recognition in England, Womens participation in the medical professions was generally limited by legal and social practices during the decades while medicine was professionalizing. However, through the half of the twentieth century, women had gains generally across the board. In the United States, for instance, women were 9% of total US medical school enrollment in 1969, by 1985, women constituted 16% of practicing US physicians. At the beginning of the twenty-first century in industrialized nations, women have made significant gains, Women have achieved parity in medical school in some industrialized countries, since 2003 forming the majority of the United States medical student body. In 2007-2008, women accounted for 49% of medical school applicants and 48. 3% of those accepted. According to the American Association of Medical Colleges 48. 3% of medical degrees awarded in the US in 2009-10 were earned by women, however, the practice of medicine remains disproportionately male overall. In industrialized nations, the recent parity in gender of students has not yet trickled into parity in practice. In many developing nations, neither school nor practice approach gender parity. In the United States, female physicians outnumber male physicians in pediatrics and female residents outnumber male residents in family medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, pathology, Women continue to dominate in nursing. In 2000,94. 6% of registered nurses in the United States were women, in health care professions as a whole in the US, women numbered approximately 14.8 million, as of 2011. Biomedical research and academic medical professions—i. e, faculty at medical schools—are also disproportionately male. The involvement of women in the field of medicine has been recorded in early civilizations. An Egyptian, Merit Ptah, described in an inscription as chief physician, is the earliest woman named in the history of science, agamede was cited by Homer as a healer in Greece before the Trojan War. Agnodike was the first female physician to practice legally in 4th century BC Athens, metrodora was a physician and generally regarded as the first medical writer. During the Middle Ages, convents were an important place of education for women, an example is the German abbess Hildegard of Bingen, whose prolific writings include treatments of various scientific subjects, including medicine, botany and natural history

27.
Women in dentistry
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There is a long history of women in dentistry. Unknown, 16th century, In an early engraving by Lucas Van Leyden. 1855, Emeline Roberts Jones became the first woman to practice dentistry in the United States and she married the dentist Daniel Jones when she was a teenager, and became his assistant in 1855. 1866, Lucy Hobbs Taylor became the first woman to graduate from a dental college and she graduated from the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery in 1869. 1874, Fanny A. Rambarger became the second American woman to earn the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery in 1874 and she worked in Philadelphia and limited her practice to women and children only. 1881, Margaret Caro became the first woman to be listed on the Dentists Register of New Zealand,1886, Margarita Chorné y Salazar became the first female dentist in Mexico. 1890, Ida Gray Rollins became the first African-American woman to earn a degree in the United States. 1892, The Womens Dental Association of the U. S. was founded in 1892 by Mary Stillwell-Kuesel with 12 charter members,1895, Lilian Lindsay became the first licensed female dentist in Britain. 1898, Emma Gaudreau Casgrain became the first licensed female dentist in Canada,1907, Frances Dorothy Gray became Australia’s first female Bachelor of Dental Science graduate from the Australian College of Dentistry, University of Melbourne, in 1907. 1920, Maude Tanner became the first recorded female delegate to the American Dental Association, aAWDs first president, M. Evangeline Jordan, was one of the first to limit her practice to children and was a founder of pedodontics. She graduated from the University of California School of Dentistry in 1898,1923, Anita Martin became the first woman inducted into the American dental honor society Omicron Kappa Upsilon. 1946, Lilian Lindsay became the first female president of the British Dental Association,1951, Helen E. Myers of Lancaster, Pa. A1941 graduate of Temple University, was commissioned as the U. S. Army Dental Corps’ first female officer in 1951. 1975, On July 1,1975, Jeanne Sinkford became the first female dean of an American dental school when she was appointed the dean of Howard University,1977, The American Association of Dental Schools had Nancy Goorey as its first female president in 1977. 1988, In 1988, the American Student Dental Association elected its first female president,1991, Geraldine Morrow became the first female president of the American Dental Association. 1997, Hazel J. Harper became the first female president of the National Dental Association,2001, Marjorie Jeffcoat became the first female editor of The Journal of the American Dental Association. Turner became the first female Chief of the U. S. Navy Dental Corps,2004, Sandra Madison, of Asheville, N. C. was elected as the first female president of the American Association of Endodontists. 2005, Michele Aerden became the first female president of the FDI World Dental Federation,2007, Laura Kelly became the first female president of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry

28.
Women in STEM fields
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STEM professions, like medicine, require higher education or training—especially in mathematics—in nearly all cases. Since the feminist revolution of the 1970s, the opportunities available to men and women in education have become broadly similar in most advanced economies. This has not yet translated to equal representation for women in the STEM professions on the ground, scholars are exploring the various reasons for the continued existence of this gender disparity in STEM fields. Those who view this disparity as resulting from discriminatory forces are also seeking ways to redress this disparity within STEM fields, some proponents view diversity as an inherent human good, and wish to increase diversity for its own sake, regardless of its historical origin or present cause. In the United States, research findings are mixed concerning when boys and girls attitudes about mathematics, analyzing several nationally representative longitudinal studies, one researcher found few differences in girls and boys attitudes towards science in the early secondary school years. Students aspirations to pursue careers in mathematics and science influence both the courses they choose to take in areas and the level of effort they put forth in these courses. A report by the U. S. Department of Education found that the gap in the aspirations of boys. Girls begin to lose self-confidence in middle school because they believe that men possess more intelligence in technical fields, the fact that men outperform women in spatial analysis, a skillset many engineering professionals deem vital, generates this misconception. Boys are more likely to gain spatial skills outside the classroom because they are encouraged to build. Research shows that girls can develop these skills with training. A1996 study of college freshmen by the Higher Education Research Institute shows that men and women differ greatly in their fields of study. The differences in the majors between male and female first-time freshmen directly relate to the differences in the fields in which men and women earn their degree. At the post-secondary level, women are less likely than men to earn a degree in mathematics, physical sciences, or computer sciences, the exception to this gender imbalance is in the life sciences. In Scotland, a number of women graduate in STEM subjects. This represents a £170 million per annum loss to Scotlands national income, although female college graduates shared in the earnings growth of all college graduates in the 1980s, they earned less on average than male college graduates. Some of the differences in salary are related to the differences in occupations entered by women and men, among recent science and engineering bachelors degree recipients, women were less likely than men to be employed in science and engineering occupations. There remains wage gap between men and women in comparable scientific positions, among more experienced scientists and engineers, the gender gap in salaries is greater than for recent graduates. Salaries are highest in mathematics, computer science, and engineering, an fact sheet published by UNESCO in March 2015 presented worldwide statistics of women in the STEM fields, with a focus on Asia and the Pacific region

29.
Women in space
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This article addresses the subject of women traveling above the Kármán line. This includes orbiting in the thermosphere through to travel in outer space, however, as of December 2016, no woman has traveled beyond low earth orbit. Women of many nationalities have worked in space, the first woman in space, Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, flew in 1963. Space programs were slow to employ women, and only began to include them from the 1980s, most women in space have been United States citizens, primarily with missions on the Space Shuttle. Three countries maintain active space programs that include women, China, Russia, and the United States of America. In addition, a number of other countries – Canada, France, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, South Korea, women in space face many of the same challenges faced by men, physical difficulties from non-Earth conditions and psychological stresses of isolation and separation. A number of women have traveled into space, although the first woman flew into space in 1963, very early in crewed space exploration, it would not be until almost 20 years later that another flew. The first woman in space was a Soviet cosmonaut, Valentina Tereshkova launched with the Vostok 6 mission on June 16,1963. Russian Yelena V. Kondakova became the first woman to travel for both the Soyuz programme and the Space Shuttle, Yelena Serova became the first female Russian cosmonaut to visit the International Space Station on 26 September 2014. The Russian space program has hosted international cosmonauts. The United States did not have a woman in space until 1983, since then more than 40 American women have entered space. Most served on the various Space Shuttle flights from 1983 to 2011, Sally Ride was the third woman overall to go into space, launching on the space shuttle. Ride served on the STS-7 from June 18 to 24 in 1983, the first U. S. woman to go on an EVA was Kathryn Sullivan on the STS-41-G which launched on October 11,1984. The first woman to be on an ISS expedition crew was Susan Helms on Expedition 2 and she returned in October 2016, having spent 12 hours and 46 minutes on EVA and 115 days in space and 12 hours and 46 minutes in space as part of these missions. During her stay on ISS she also conducted numerous experiments including in the area of biology and she was the first woman, and first person to sequence DNA in space. In addition to U. S. citizens, US rockets have launched international astronauts, roberta Bondar and Julie Payette from Canada, Kalpana Chawla of India, and Chiaki Mukai and Naoko Yamazaki of Japan flew as part of the US space program. A number of other women have contributed to interest in space programs. In the early 2000s, Lori Garver initiated a project to increase the visibility and viability of commercial spaceflight with the AstroMom project

30.
Women in telegraphy
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Women in telegraphy have been evident since the 1840s. The introduction of systems of telegraphy in the 1840s led to the creation of a new occupational category. Duties of the telegrapher included sending and receiving messages, known as telegrams, using a variety of signaling systems. While telegraphy is often viewed as an occupation, women were also employed as telegraph operators from its earliest days. Telegraphy was one of the first communications technology occupations open to women, operation of this network required skilled operators at each station, capable of sending and receiving messages in Morse code. The shortage of qualified operators led to the hiring of women as well as men to fill a growing need for operators in the late 1840s as the telegraph spread across the country. She probably became aware of the telegraph and its potential from her previous work as an editor for the reform newspaper, phoebe Wood, sister of Morses associate Ezra Cornell and wife of telegraph entrepreneur Martin B. Wood, became the telegrapher in Albion, Michigan, in 1849, initially used to transmit personal messages, business transactions and news reports, the telegraph began to be used for train routing by the railroads as well in the 1850s. Elizabeth Cogley of Lewistown, Pennsylvania, became one of the earliest women to work as a railroad telegrapher when she was hired by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1855. The employment of women in the industry in the United States increased during the American Civil War as male telegraphers were drafted or joined the U. S. Military Telegraph Corps of the Union army, a few women served in the Military Telegraph Corps. Louisa Volker, the operator at Mineral Point, Missouri. According to the U. S. Census, the percentage of telegraphers who were women in the U. S. grew from four percent in 1870 to twenty percent in 1920, Telegraph service in Canada was provided both by private companies and the Government Telegraph Service. In Toronto in 1902,42 percent of the operators at the Great Northwestern Telegraph Company were women, at the offices of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the same city,28 percent of the operators were female in 1902. The percentage of the workforce that was female was somewhat lower in western Canada, in 1917,18 percent of the operators in Winnipeg were women. Many telegraphers from the United States came to Mexico to work for the railroads during the administration of Porfirio Diaz, including several American women. Abbie Struble Vaughan worked for the Mexican National Railroad and the Mexican Central Railroad from 1891 to 1911, Women began to work for a number of private telegraph companies in England in the 1850s, including the Electric Telegraph Company. The Telegraph School for Women was established in London in 1860, the Queens Institute for the Training and Employment of Educated Women began classes in telegraphy in Dublin in 1862, its graduates were employed by the Irish Magnetic Telegraph Company

31.
Women artists
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While women artists have been involved in making art throughout history, their work often has not been as well acknowledged as that of men. Often certain media are associated with artists, such as textile arts. Womens roles in relation to art, of course, vary in different cultures and communities, many art forms considered to be created predominantly by women have been historically dismissed from the art historical canon as craft, as opposed to fine art. Women artists faced challenges due to biases in the mainstream fine art world. They have often encountered difficulties in training, travelling and trading their work, collaboration on large projects was typical. Extrapolation to the artwork and skills of the Paleolithic era suggests that these cultures followed similar patterns, cave paintings of this era often have human hand prints, 75% of which are identifiable as womens. For about three years, the women – and only the women – of Mithila have been making devotional paintings of the gods. It is no exaggeration, then, to say that art is the expression of the most genuine aspect of Indian civilization. The earliest records of western cultures rarely mention specific individuals, although women are depicted in all of the art and some are shown laboring as artists. Ancient references by Homer, Cicero, and Virgil mention the prominent roles of women in textiles, poetry, music, Other women include Timarete, Eirene, Kalypso, Aristarete, Iaia, and Olympias. While only some of their work survives, in Ancient Greek pottery there is a hydria in the Torno Collection in Milan. It is attribute to the Leningrad painter from circa 460-450 B. C. Artists from the Medieval period include Claricia, Diemudus, Ende, Guda, Herrade of Landsberg and Hildegard of Bingen. In the early Medieval period, women worked alongside men. Manuscript illuminations, embroideries, and carved capitals from the period clearly demonstrate examples of women at work in these arts, documents show that they also were brewers, butchers, wool merchants, and iron mongers. Artists of the period, including women, were from a small subset of society whose status allowed them freedom from these more strenuous types of work. Women artists often were of two classes, either wealthy aristocratic women or nuns. Women in the category often created embroideries and textiles, those in the later category often produced illuminations. It is presumed that women were almost entirely responsible for this production, one of the most famous embroideries of the Medieval period is the Bayeux Tapestry, which was embroidered with wool and is 230 feet long

32.
Women in architecture
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Women in architecture have been documented for many centuries, as professional practitioners, educators and clients. Since architecture became organized as a profession in 1857, the number of women in architecture has been low, at the end of the 19th century, starting in Finland, certain schools of architecture in Europe began to admit women to their programmes of study. However, only in recent years have begun to achieve wider recognition with several outstanding participants including two Pritzker prizewinners since the turn of the millennium. However, despite the fact that some 40% of architecture graduates in the world are now women. Two European women stand out as examples of women playing an important part in architecture. She has been put forward as the architect of Wotton House in Buckinghamshire and it has also been suggested that she tutored Sir Christopher Wren. Wilbraham had to use male architects to supervise the construction work, there is now much research including that by John Millar to show she may have designed up to 400 buildings including 18 London churches previously attributed to her pupil Sir Christopher Wren. Sarah Losh was an English woman and landowner of Wreay and she has been described as a lost Romantic genius, antiquarian, architect and visionary. Her main work is St Marys Church, Cumbria, but she also constructed various associated buildings, Louise Blanchard Bethune from Waterloo, New York, was the first American woman known to have worked as a professional architect. In 1881, she opened an independent office partnered with her husband Robert Bethune in Buffalo and she was named the first female associate of the American Institute of Architects in 1888 and in 1889, she became its first female fellow. Another early practicing architect in the United States was Emily Williams from northern California, in 1901, together with her friend Lillian Palmer, she moved to San Francisco where she studied drafting at the California High School of Mechanical Arts. Encouraged by Palmer, she went on to build a number of cottages and houses in the area, including a home on 1037 Broadway in San Francisco. Theodate Pope Riddle grew up in a background in Farmington, Connecticut. Her early designs, such as that for Hill-Stead, were translated into working drawings by the firm of McKim, Mead and White, providing her with an apprenticeship in architecture. She was the first woman to become an architect in both New York and Connecticut and in 1926 was appointed to the AIA College of Fellows. A notable pioneer of the days was Josephine Wright Chapman. Chapman received no education in architecture but went on design a number of buildings before setting up her own firm. The architect of Tuckerman Hall in Worcester, Massachusetts, she is considered to be one of Americas earliest and most successful female architects, Romanian architect Virginia Andreescu Haret, first woman to graduate with a degree in architecture in 1919 and first woman as Romanian Architectural Inspector General

Women in government
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Women in government in the modern era are under-represented in most countries worldwide. Even though some progress has made during the last two centuries, and women are increasingly being politically elected to be heads of state and government. As of January 2017, the participation rate of women in national-level parliaments is 23. 3%. A number of

2.
The lady in the case, an example of how some have interpreted women's involvement in government https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/The_lady_in_the_case.jpg

Secondary education
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Secondary education covers two phases on the ISCED scale. Level 2 or junior secondary education is considered the second and final phase of basic education, every country aims to provide basic education, but the systems and terminology remain unique to them. Secondary education typically takes place six years of primary education and is followed by

1.
High school in Bratislava, Slovakia (Gymnázium Grösslingová 18)

2.
Sydney Boys High School

3.
Krabbesholm Højskole

4.
Helsingin normaalilyseo

Women's history
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Womens history is the study of the role that women have played in history and the methods required to do so. The main centers of scholarship have been the United States and Britain, History was written mainly by men and about mens activities in the public sphere—war, politics, diplomacy and administration. Women are usually excluded and, when menti

1.
Ladies of a Mandarin 's Family at Cards, Thomas Allom; G. N. Wright (1843). China, in a Series of Views, Displaying the Scenery, Architecture, and Social Habits of That Ancient Empire. Volume 3. p. 18

Legal rights of women in history
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The legal rights of women refers to the social and human rights of women. One of the first womens rights declarations was the Declaration of Sentiments, the dependent position of women in early law is proved by the evidence of most ancient systems. In the Mosaic law, for monetary matters, womens and mens rights were almost exactly equal, a woman wa

1.
This illustration, from a medieval translation (c. 1310) of Euclid's Elements, is noteworthy in showing a woman teaching geometry to male students.

2.
Bronze statuette of a young woman reading (latter 1st century)

Woman
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A woman is a female human. The term woman is usually reserved for an adult, with the girl being the usual term for a female child or adolescent. The term woman is sometimes used to identify a female human, regardless of age. Women with typical genetic development are usually capable of giving birth from puberty until menopause, the spelling of woma

1.
the Queen of Sheba

2.
"The Life & Age of Woman - Stages of Woman's Life from the Cradle to the Grave",1849

3.
Woman nursing her infant

4.
Pregnant woman

Women and animal advocacy
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Women have played a central role in animal advocacy since the 19th century. The animal advocacy movement – embracing animal rights, animal welfare, Women are more likely to support animal rights than men.4 million people who call themselves vegetarian, 68% are female, while only 32% are male. Women and animals were considered equally irrational and

1.
When the British author Mary Wollstonecraft wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman in 1792, an anonymous tract, A Vindication of the Rights of Brutes (brutes meaning animals) immediately appeared as a parody.

Female entrepreneur
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Female entrepreneurs are said to encompass approximately 1/3 of all entrepreneurs worldwide. Traditionally, an entrepreneur has been defined as a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk. Rather than working as an employee, an entrepreneur runs a business and assumes all t

Female education
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Female education is a catch-all term for a complex set of issues and debates surrounding education for girls and women. It includes areas of gender equality and access to education, while the feminist movement certainly promoted the importance of the issues attached to female education the discussion is wide-ranging and by no means narrowly defined

4.
Page from an illuminated manuscript from the late 10th century. The three nuns in front are all holding books, and the middle one appears to be teaching, gesturing to make a point.

Feminism
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Feminism is a range of political movements, ideologies, and social movements that share a common goal, to define and advance political, economic, personal, and social rights for women. This includes seeking to establish opportunities for women in education. Feminists have also worked to promote autonomy and integrity, and to protect women and girls

1.
International Women's Day rally in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on 8 March 2005, organized by the National Women Workers Trade Union Centre

2.
Feminist Suffrage Parade in New York City, 6 May 1912

3.
After selling her home, Emmeline Pankhurst, pictured in New York City in 1913, travelled constantly, giving speeches throughout Britain and the United States.

4.
Louise Weiss along with other Parisian suffragettes in 1935. The newspaper headline reads "The Frenchwoman Must Vote."

Women in conservatism in the United States
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Women in conservatism in the United States have advocated for social, political, economic, and cultural conservative policies since Anti-suffragism. Leading conservative women such as Phyllis Schlafly have expressed that women should embrace their privileged essential nature, Women first began to oppose suffrage in Massachusetts in 1868. They succe

1.
Phyllis Schlafly

2.
Sarah Palin

Queen regnant
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An empress regnant is a female monarch who reigns in her own right over an empire. A queen regnant possesses and exercises sovereign powers, a queen consort shares her husbands rank and titles, but does not share the sovereignty of her husband. The husband of a queen regnant traditionally does not share his wifes rank, however, the concept of a kin

1.
Elizabeth II, here with her husband on the occasion of her coronation in 1953

2.
Royal, noble and chivalric ranks

3.
Margaret I ruled Denmark, Sweden and Norway in the late 14th and early 15th centuries.

4.
Elizabeth II

List of queens regnant
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This is a list of Queens who have ruled as Queen in many countries. Included also are Pharaohs and Empresses, if the Queen ruled as a regent this is indicated by following the name. Where a queen had no powers but only the title is added and they became, in effect, co-rulers, and both took the epithet Philadelphus. Because of this many of the kings

1.
Cleopatra VII

2.
Hatshepsut

3.
Amanitore

4.
Nzinga, warrior queen of Ndongo and Matamba

Women's health
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Womens health refers to the health of women, which differs from that of men in many unique ways. Often treated as simply womens reproductive health, many argue for a broader definition pertaining to the overall health of women. These differences are further exacerbated in developing countries where women, whose health includes both their risks and

1.
Women's Health Protective Association monument, New York City

Women in journalism and media professions
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As journalism became a profession, women were restricted by custom from access to journalism occupations, and faced significant discrimination within the profession. Nevertheless, women operated as editors, reporters, sports analysts and journalists even before the 1890s, the first woman in Denmark who published articles in Danish papers were the w

1.
U.S. World War II correspondents

Women in law enforcement
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Women in law enforcement agencies have typically been outnumbered by men. The first policewoman in Germany was recruited in 1903, the first in the USA appeared in 1910, since that time many law enforcement agencies have sought to reduce discrimination and increase the numbers of women working in this sector. Henriette Arendt was a German Policewoma

1.
The transformation to "Voluntary Women Patrols" in 1917

2.
Police in Birmingham with a "matron" in about 1919

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Capt Edyth Totten and women police in 1918 in New York

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Delegates of the 3rd Annual Women in Policing Conference in Tbilisi, Georgia. March 4, 2014.

Women in the military
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Even though women serving in the military has often been diverse, a very small number of women in history have fought alongside men. In the American Civil War, there were a few women who cross-dressed as men in order to fight, fighting on the battlefront in disguise was not the only way women involved themselves in war. Some also served as nurses a

1.
Four American F-15 Eagle pilots from the 3d Wing walk to their jets at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.

2.
A group of female motor ambulance drivers from the British Voluntary Aid Detachment in France during 1917

3.
Roza Shanina, a Soviet sniper during World War II, credited with 54 confirmed target hits. About 400,000 Soviet women served in front-line duty units, chiefly as medics and nurses.

4.
A Congolese female para-commando during jump training at capital Leopoldville in 1967

Mother
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A mother is the female parent of a child. Mothers are women who inhabit or perform the role of bearing some relation to their children, thus, dependent on the context, women can be considered mothers by virtue of having given birth, by raising their child, supplying their ovum for fertilisation, or some combination thereof. Such conditions provide

List of female Nobel laureates
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All but the economics prize were established by the 1895 will of Alfred Nobel, which dictates that the awards should be administered by the Nobel Foundation. Each recipient receives a medal, a diploma and a prize that has varied throughout the years. As of 2015, Nobel Prizes have been awarded to 822 men,48 women, the first woman to win a Nobel Priz

2.
All Nobel Prizes won by women

Women in piracy
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While piracy was predominantly a male occupation, a minority of pirates were women. On many ships, women were prohibited by the ships contract, because of the resistance to allowing women on board, many female pirates did not identify themselves as such. Anne Bonny, for example, dressed and acted as a man while on Captain Calico Jacks ship and she

Reproductive rights
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Reproductive rights are legal rights and freedoms relating to reproduction and reproductive health that vary amongst countries around the world. They also include the right of all to make decisions concerning reproduction free of discrimination, coercion, Reproductive rights began to develop as a subset of human rights at the United Nations 1968 In

1.
A classroom in South Africa.

Violence against women
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Violence against women, also known as gender-based violence, is, collectively, violent acts that are primarily or exclusively committed against women. Sometimes considered a crime, this type of violence targets a specific group with the victims gender as a primary motive. This type of violence is gender-based, meaning that the acts of violence are

Women's suffrage
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Womens suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Limited voting rights were gained by women in Finland, Iceland, Sweden and some Australian colonies, National and international organizations formed to coordinate efforts to gain voting rights, especially the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, and also worked for equal civil rights for

1.
U.S. women suffragists demonstrating for the right to vote, February 1913.

2.
Suffragette demonstration, 1913, Washington, D.C.

3.
Anna II, Abbess of Quedlinburg. In the pre-modern era in some parts of Europe, abbesses were permitted to participate and vote in various European national assemblies by virtue of their rank within the Catholic and Protestant churches.

Women in the workforce
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Until modern times, legal and cultural practices, combined with the inertia of longstanding religious and educational conventions, restricted womens entry and participation in the workforce. Womens lack of access to education had effectively excluded them from the practice of well-paid. Women were largely limited to low-paid and poor status occupat

2.
Attendees at a computer business networking event for potential entrepreneurs, United States.

3.
An information technology networking social for potential entrepreneurs. New Delhi, India.

4.
Maasai women at USAID literacy event.

Women in science
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Women have made significant contributions to science from the earliest times. The historical, critical and sociological study of issues has become an academic discipline in its own right. The involvement of women in the field of medicine occurred in early civilizations. Women contributed to the proto-science of alchemy in the first or second centur

Women in computing
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Historically, women in computing have had an effect on the evolution of the industry, with many of the first programmers during the early 20th century being female. Since July 2012 and previously an executive, usability leader. Ada Lovelace was the first person to publish an algorithm intended to be executed by the first modern computer, the Analyt

1.
A poster encouraging women to pursue technology studies at University of Valle, Cali, Colombia. It reads: "If it's not appropriate for women, it's not appropriate. Women and technology." c. 2000.

2.
Ada Lovelace, considered to be the first computer programmer.

Women in medicine
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Historically and presently, in many parts of the world, womens participation in the profession of medicine has been significantly restricted. However, womens informal practice of medicine in roles such as caregivers or as allied health professionals has been widespread, most countries of the world now provide women with equal access to medical educ

1.
Wafaa El-Sadr is an Egyptian epidemiologist and MacArthur Fellow who directs two programmes at Columbia University 's Mailman School of Public Health.

2.
Monique Frize (centre) is a Canadian academic and biomedical engineer known for her expertise in medical instrumentation and decision support systems (DSS).

3.
Awa Marie Coll Seck is Senegal 's former Minister of Health and an international public health expert, Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership.

4.
Hildegard of Bingen, a Medieval German abbess who wrote Causae et Curae, a medical text.

Women in dentistry
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There is a long history of women in dentistry. Unknown, 16th century, In an early engraving by Lucas Van Leyden. 1855, Emeline Roberts Jones became the first woman to practice dentistry in the United States and she married the dentist Daniel Jones when she was a teenager, and became his assistant in 1855. 1866, Lucy Hobbs Taylor became the first wo

1.
Emeline Roberts Jones

Women in STEM fields
–
STEM professions, like medicine, require higher education or training—especially in mathematics—in nearly all cases. Since the feminist revolution of the 1970s, the opportunities available to men and women in education have become broadly similar in most advanced economies. This has not yet translated to equal representation for women in the STEM p

1.
The CMS Girls Engineering Camp at Texas A&M University–Commerce in June 2015

Women in space
–
This article addresses the subject of women traveling above the Kármán line. This includes orbiting in the thermosphere through to travel in outer space, however, as of December 2016, no woman has traveled beyond low earth orbit. Women of many nationalities have worked in space, the first woman in space, Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, flew

1.
Tracy Caldwell Dyson viewing Earth from the ISS Cupola, 2010

2.
Topics

Women in telegraphy
–
Women in telegraphy have been evident since the 1840s. The introduction of systems of telegraphy in the 1840s led to the creation of a new occupational category. Duties of the telegrapher included sending and receiving messages, known as telegrams, using a variety of signaling systems. While telegraphy is often viewed as an occupation, women were a

Women artists
–
While women artists have been involved in making art throughout history, their work often has not been as well acknowledged as that of men. Often certain media are associated with artists, such as textile arts. Womens roles in relation to art, of course, vary in different cultures and communities, many art forms considered to be created predominant

1.
Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, Self-portrait with two pupils, 1785, Metropolitan Museum of Art, the two pupils are Marie-Gabrielle Capet and Carreaux de Rosemond.

Women in architecture
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Women in architecture have been documented for many centuries, as professional practitioners, educators and clients. Since architecture became organized as a profession in 1857, the number of women in architecture has been low, at the end of the 19th century, starting in Finland, certain schools of architecture in Europe began to admit women to the

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Signe Hornborg: Signelinna (1892) in Pori, Finland, possibly the first building designed by a credentialed female architect

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American jazz singer and songwriter Billie Holiday in New York City in 1947.

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Bonnie Raitt is an American singer, guitar player and piano player. A winner of ten Grammy awards, she is also noted for her slide guitar playing.

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Songwriter, singer and multi-instrumentalist Ani DiFranco has had a lot of artistic freedom during her career, in part because she founded her own record label, Righteous Babe. She has become a feminist icon and is a supporter of many social causes.

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The Mahabharata is a legendary Hindu epic reflecting the social beliefs and culture in ancient India. In its first book, Dushmanta asks Sakuntala (above) to marry him for love, in Gandharva -style marriage, without the consent of their parents. The texts also describes seven other forms of marriage, and when they were appropriate or inappropriate.

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The Vedas and Shastras of Hinduism mention Brahmacharini (women) studying the Vedas. The word Brahmacharini is also revered in Hinduism as a goddess (above).

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Devi Mahatmya, a Hindu Sanskrit manuscript from Nepal 11th-century (above), helped crystallize the goddess tradition where the creator God is a female, but neither feminine nor masculine, rather spiritual and a force of good.

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Aisha, the widow of Muhammad, joined the Battle of the Camel, the first major Islamic civil war between Sunni and Shia sects of Islam. This internecine Islamic war is also called the First Fitna. Aisha was the only woman in the war. Thousands were killed, Ali captured and pardoned Aisha. She retired thereafter.

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University of al-Karaouine was founded in 859 by Fatima al-Fihri, a Muslim woman. It is the oldest, still operating Islamic university. Women in Islam, nevertheless, were rarely permitted to attend formal classes in universities, only allowed to attend religious lectures in mosque and public places.

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The humanitarian, Caroline Chisholm was a leading advocate for women's issues and family friendly colonial policy.

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In the Second World War, government propaganda encourage women to contribute to the war effort by joining one of the female branches of the armed forces or joining the labour force

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South Australian suffragette Catherine Helen Spence (1825-1910). In 1895 women in South Australia were among the first in the world to attain the vote and were the first to be able to stand for parliament.

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Michele Bachelet, who served as the first woman President of Chile from 2006 to 2010.

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María de la Cruz, (1912 – 1995), Chilean political activist for women's suffrage, journalist, writer, and political commentator. In 1953, she became the first woman ever elected to the Chilean Senate